Environment

• Monday, November 25th 2013 - 07:24 UTC

  Last minute compromise and flexible wording saves UN climate talks in Poland

  

  UN climate talks in Poland have ended with delegates reaching a compromise on how to fight global warming. After 30 hours of deadlock, they approved a pathway to a new global climate treaty in Paris in 2015. The agreement was achieved after a series of last minute compromises often involving single words in draft texts.

• Friday, November 22nd 2013 - 20:27 UTC

  Russia refuses to free Greenpeace vessel ignoring UN maritime tribunal order

  

  The United Nations maritime tribunal has ordered Russia to free a Greenpeace vessel and 30 people detained after an oil drilling protest in the Arctic. The court in the German city of Hamburg said a bond of 3.6 million Euros should be posted.

• Friday, November 22nd 2013 - 02:08 UTC

  Major environmental groups walk out of UN climate conference in Warsaw

  

  Several major environmental groups, including Greenpeace and WWF, have walked out of UN climate talks in Warsaw, Poland in protest at what they see as a lack of progress towards an international deal to curb rising global greenhouse gas emissions.

• Wednesday, November 20th 2013 - 05:06 UTC

  Brazil agriculture in state of emergency following infestations of Helicoverpa caterpillar

  

  Infestations of the Helicoverpa caterpillar in Brazil's grain belt prompted the agriculture ministry this week to declare a state of emergency in the leading soy state of Mato Grosso, highlighting the potential risk to large parts of the crop.

• Saturday, November 16th 2013 - 06:54 UTC

  Deforestation in Brazilian Amazon increased by a third over the past year

  

  Deforestation in the Amazon increased by nearly a third over the past year, according to Brazilian government figures released this week, confirming a feared reversal in what had been steady progress over the past decade against destruction of the world's largest rainforest.

• Thursday, November 14th 2013 - 19:20 UTC

  Two UK scientists keeping track of Manhattan size iceberg moving in the Southern ocean

  

  An Iceberg, the size of Manhattan in area, was derived from the Pine Island Glacier, and is currently moving through the Southern Ocean. To keep track of its movements and melting Professor Grant Bigg of UK's University of Sheffield has been awarded a £50,000 grant from the Natural Environment Research Council (NERC) for the 6 month project.

• Thursday, November 14th 2013 - 19:09 UTC

  Japan unveils floating wind farm off the coast of the defunct Fukushima

  

  Japan unveiled a new wind farm off the coast of Fukushima last week. Only thirteen miles offshore from the Fukushima Daichi nuclear power station, the same nuclear station that notoriously attracted the world's attention during the 2011 Japanese tsunami, the new wind farm is expected to produce upwards of one gigawatt from 143 wind turbines. For comparison, the now-inoperable Fukushima Daichi nuclear power plant could provide 4.4 gigawatts.

• Thursday, November 14th 2013 - 07:42 UTC

  Manmade global warming is making 2013 the seventh warmest year since 1850

  

  This year is the seventh warmest since records began in 1850 with a trend to weather extremes and the impact of storms such as Typhoon Haiyan in the Philippines aggravated by rising sea levels, the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) said.

• Monday, November 11th 2013 - 19:49 UTC

  GEF and FAO approve project to improve sustainability of tuna fisheries worldwide

  

  Global Environment Facility (GEF) CEO Naoko Ishii approved a project coordinated by the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) to improve the health and sustainability of tuna fisheries worldwide by reducing illegal catch and supporting related marine ecosystems and species.

• Monday, November 11th 2013 - 16:03 UTC

  Mid-Atlantic ridge with iron-rich waters extending from Brazil to Namibia discovered

  

  At the slow-spreading mid-Atlantic ridge in the South Atlantic Ocean an iron cloud spreads for more than 1,000 kilometers across the Atlantic from west of Namibia, Africa, to northeast of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. The iron-rich waters flow 1,500 to 3,500 meters beneath the surface of the ocean. The complete extent and shape of the iron plume remains to be discovered.