Environment news

• Scientists' work recognised in New Year Honours

  30-12-2016 23:45 via bbc.co.uk
  
  The work of a number of the UK's leading scientists has been recognised in the New Year Honours.
  
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• Butterfly protector who informed climate change policy gets OBE

  30-12-2016 23:30
  
  Dr Martin Warren has saved at least three species from extinction, laying the ground for landscape-scale conservationEvery June on Exmoor and in woods near Canterbury, a fragile-looking golden butterfly called the heath fritillary flutters in the sunshine.
  It would probably not grace summer woodlands and moors were it not for the efforts of Dr Martin Warren, a scientist and conservationist who has been awarded an OBE in the New Year honours list. Continue reading...
  
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• Oil down, but ends year with biggest gain since 2009

  30-12-2016 21:27
  Oil prices settled slightly lower on Friday, the year's last trading day, but attained their biggest annual gain since 2009, after OPEC and partners agreed to cut output to reduce a supply overhang that has depressed prices for two years. U.S. benchmark West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures were down 5 cents, or 0.1 percent, at $53.72 a barrel, while Brent fell 3 cents, or 0.1 percent, to $56.82. Oil prices have slumped since the summer of 2014 from above $100 a barrel.
  
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• Private vehicles add to Delhi's pollution woes

  30-12-2016 20:27 via bbc.co.uk
  
  Despite its alarming pollution levels, Delhi has seen an explosion in the number of private vehicles, while public transport is in decline, environmentalists warn.
  
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• China to ban ivory trade by the end of 2017

  30-12-2016 20:15
  
  Dozens of trade venues to be closed in the next three months, in a move activists are calling ‘a gamechanger’China will ban all domestic ivory trade and processing by the end of 2017, state media reported on Friday, in a move hailed by activists as a gamechanger for Africa’s elephants.African ivory is highly sought after in China where it is seen as a status symbol and prices for a kilo (2.2 pounds) can reach as much as $1,100 (£890). Continue reading...
  
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• Oil dips but set for biggest yearly gain since 2009

  30-12-2016 19:33
  Oil traded slightly lower on Friday, but was still on track for its biggest annual gain since 2009, after OPEC and other major producers agreed to cut output to reduce a global supply overhang that has depressed prices for two years. U.S. benchmark West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures were down 18 cents. Oil prices have slumped since the summer of 2014 from above $100 a barrel.
  
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• Anti-fracking protesters to see in new year at Yorkshire site

  30-12-2016 19:09
  
  Activists brave the cold by camping near Kirby Misperton where shale exploration by Third Energy has council’s approvalProtesters have called themselves the “frontline in the fight against fracking” as they prepare to camp out on New Year’s Eve by one of the two UK sites where the practice is has been given the go-ahead.Activists moved on to private farmland near Kirby Misperton, North Yorkshire, just before Christmas, after the high court rejected a legal move to stop pl
  
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• European shares post small loss for 2016, Britain's FTSE hits record high

  30-12-2016 18:56
  By Kit Rees and Atul Prakash LONDON (Reuters) - European shares posted a small loss for 2016, though strong gains among mining stocks and the oil & gas sector as well as a turnaround in banks in the latter part of the year lent support, while Britain's FTSE 100 index climbed to a record high. Reversing steep losses from early in the year, mining stocks helped Europe's basic resources index to a 61.9-percent gain this year, bouncing back from a 35-percent slump in 2015. The bounce in miners a
  
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• China announces ban on ivory trade by end of 2017

  30-12-2016 17:23 via bbc.co.uk
  
  China announces a ban on all ivory trade and processing activities by the end of 2017.
  
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• Oil prices down, but set for biggest yearly gain since 2009

  30-12-2016 15:57
  Oil prices were down on Friday, but were still on track for their biggest annual gain since 2009 after OPEC and other major producers agreed to cut output to reduce a global supply overhang that has depressed prices for two years. U.S. benchmark West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures were down 25 cents at $53.52 a barrel by 9:38 a.m. EST (1438 GMT) on Friday, while Brent fell 26 cents to $56.59. Oil prices have more than halved since the summer of 2014, when it was above $100 a barrel.
  
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• Oil prices on track for biggest yearly gain since 2009

  30-12-2016 12:40
  By Sabina Zawadzki LONDON (Reuters) - Oil prices are on track for their biggest annual gain since 2009 after the OPEC grouping and other major producers agreed to cut crude output to reduce a global supply overhang that has depressed prices for two years. U.S. benchmark West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures were up 6 cents at $53.83 a barrel by 1100 GMT on Friday, while Brent front-month March crude stayed flat at $56.85. The fall in prices due to oversupply, in part thanks to the U.S. sha
  
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• China court sentences 23 people to jail for smuggling fuel

  30-12-2016 11:41
  BEIJING (Reuters) - An court in eastern China has sentenced 23 people to jail of up to 15 years for smuggling refined fuel, state news agency Xinhua reported on Friday. They were found to have smuggled more than 35,000 tonnes of refined oil since 2013, and authorities confiscated two oil tankers, Xinhua citied the customs administration of Nanjing city as saying. China has stepped up efforts to crack down on fuel smuggling, which has increased after authorities raised consumption taxes on oil pr
  
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• Eight charts that show 2016 wasn't as bad as you think

  30-12-2016 11:25
  
  Deaths in conflict have fallen (slightly), emissions have not risen for a third year and fewer people are dying from disease2016 is likely to be remembered as an annus horribilis for so many reasons that it’s tempting to think everything is doomed.But things are not always as they seem. There are silver linings. You just have to look hard to find them.Continue reading...
  
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• China unveils green vehicle subsidy caps; increases technical requirements

  30-12-2016 09:46
  China will cap subsidies and increase technical requirements for green energy vehicles starting next year in the wake of a subsidy cheating scandal, according to documents posted on the Ministry of Finance website on Thursday. The measures include a new formula for calculating central government subsidies and subsidy caps for electric and plug-in hybrid coach buses, with a maximum subsidy of 300,000 yuan ($43,000) per vehicle, roughly half of the previously listed highest subsidy of 600,000 yuan
  
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• Oil, metals post stellar 2016 gains on output cuts, demand hopes

  30-12-2016 07:33
  By Naveen Thukral and Mark Tay SINGAPORE (Reuters) - Crude oil, rubber and metals were set to end 2016 on Friday with strong gains, bouncing back from several years of losses on the back of output cuts and expectations of firmer demand. Benchmark zinc, steel rebar and rubber have all rallied around 60 percent this year, while Brent crude has climbed more than 50 percent. Crude oil output cuts announced by OPEC, stronger-than-expected demand in top commodities market China and expectations of hig
  
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• River swimming: why don't Australians take the plunge?

  30-12-2016 07:14
  
  While we love the beach and the backyard pool, a dip in the Yarra or Swan has become anathema to us – but it wasn’t always soAustralia is world-famous as a swimming nation. We have a celebrated beach culture, not to mention more privately owned pools per capita than any other country. Yet few urban Australians would consider swimming in their city’s river.Almost every major Australian city sits on the banks of a large river. But judging by online reactions to the suggestion of
  
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• Pond becomes a magnet to wildlife during a frost

  30-12-2016 06:30
  
  Ladle Hill, Hampshire This neat circle of blue is the only unfrozen water for a kilometre in each directionRefreshed by the labour of the climb, my legs nonetheless argue for respite on the crest of the hill. And, just as it does on the map, the dewpond appears a little way below me as a neat circle of blue reflecting a flawless sky on a day of hard frost.The pond is at the very top of the downs. On one side is flint-spewing earth, which in summer is covered in a yellow cowl of rapeseed. And on
  
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• Oil prices on track for greatest yearly percentage gain since 2009

  30-12-2016 05:46
  By Mark Tay Singapore (Reuters) - Oil prices are on track for their biggest annual percentage gain since 2009 on the back of an agreement struck between OPEC and non-OPEC countries to cut crude production output. Brent front-month March crude oil futures were 14 cents a barrel or 0.3 percent higher at $56.99. The market also shrugged off an unexpected increase in U.S. crude inventories, which rose 614,000 barrels in the week to Dec. 23, U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) data showed.
  
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• Bleached: Laura Jones's hope for the reef

  30-12-2016 05:05
  
  The artist says her undeniably sad portraits of bleached coral on the Great Barrier Reef are about resilience: ‘It’s not a fragile delicate flower … it’s so important to be optimistic and do what we can to protect it’Laura Jones is pained by the delicate balance she wants to strike. Her paintings of coral bleaching are going to be engulfing, immersive and undeniably sad. But she wants them to express hope and resilience, too.It’s something she keeps coming ba
  
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• Apprentice tradies to swallow tiny thermometers for heat stress productivity studies

  30-12-2016 04:26
  
  2015 study said climate change would cause productivity to decrease by up to 20% globally during summer months by 2050Apprentice tradies in northern Australia will swallow capsule thermometers to track their core body temperature during work hours as part of a range of studies to address productivity lost through heat stress in the tropics.A 2015 study found that heat stress cost the Australian economy $6.2bn in lost productivity and suggested that temperature increases due to climate change wou
  
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• The year 2016 in archaeology

  30-12-2016 03:40 via bbc.co.uk
  
  Here's a selection of the most inspiring findings in archaeology revealed this year.
  
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• Big digs

  30-12-2016 03:40 via bbc.co.uk
  
  Here's a selection of the most inspiring findings in archaeology revealed this year.
  
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• Oil prices edge up despite unexpected U.S. crude inventory build

  30-12-2016 02:23
  By Mark Tay Singapore (Reuters) - Oil prices rose in early Asian trade on Friday shrugging off a second consecutive week of U.S. crude oil inventory builds, with a U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) report late on Thursday indicating an unexpected rise in crude stocks. U.S. benchmark West Texas intermediate (WTI) crude futures were up 18 cents or 0.33 percent to $53.95 at 0105 GMT after settling 29 cents lower at $53.77 per barrel in the previous session. Despite the unexpected rise in
  
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• Brazil's president to pursue tax reform in 2017

  30-12-2016 01:54
  By Maria Carolina Marcello BRASILIA (Reuters) - Brazil will seek to simplify its tax code in 2017, President Michel Temer said on Thursday, aiming to broaden his business-friendly reform agenda following proposals to modify the pension system and labour laws. A government source familiar with the matter told Reuters the reform could include streamlining the tax regime of the oil and gas industry, changes to levies on the financial system, and the reduction of red tape in general. Since taking of
  
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• Queensland swimmers warned as irukandji jellyfish heads south

  30-12-2016 01:27
  
  Four people taken to hospital since Wednesday after suspected stings from venomous box jellyfish off Fraser coastSwimmers are being urged to take extra care in waters off Queensland amid warnings the deadly irukandji jellyfish is moving further south.Four people have been taken to hospital since Wednesday after suffering suspected irukandji stings off Queensland’s Fraser coast. Continue reading...
  
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