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"Taiwan's government on Friday urged the public to stop burning incense sticks and ritual money in honour of the dead and opt instead for online worshipping to better protect the environment. The practice not only worsens the island's air pollution but could also cause fires, warned the cabinet-level Environmental Protection Administration."

"Research has shown that marine protected areas (MPAs)-areas where fishing and other potentially destructive activities are regulated-are benefitting, not just the fish habitats they are known to aid, but nearby coral reefs as well. "That is, while coral cover initially continued to decrease in the MPA's first few years, decline slowed and then eventually stabilized after several years of MPA establishment."

Science and experience have supported this fact for the last 20 years in the Coral Triangle countries of Indonesia, the Philippines, Malaysia and Papua New Guinea, where various forms of MPA are being implemented to protect coral reef habitats, manage local reef-associated fisheries and generate income for local residents through improved fishing and diving tourism enterprises.

"Delegates at the UN Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES) rejected yesterday a proposal that would have regulated the trade of red and pink coral worldwide. The proposal, offered by the United States and Sweden, would have regulated for the first time red and pink coral, which is used for the jewelry, home decor and homeopathic medicine market."

Today the biggest, most ambitious forest conservation deal ever has been announced: The Canadian Boreal Forest Agreement. After more than seven years of hard-fought campaigning to end the on-going destruction of Canada's Boreal Forest, Greenpeace and eight other non-governmental organisations have agreed to a truce with the logging industry: we will suspend the battle for the Boreal."

"Negotiators at the COP15 conference in Copenhagen didn't see eye to eye on much last month, but almost everyone agreed on one thing: To protect the planet we need to save its forests."

"The Indonesian government has announced plans to sell tigers as pets for £67,000 a pair in what it claims is a move to protect the critically endangered species."

"Or it could be an ecological disaster, as introducing one species to combat another species often turns out to be. However, after a "detailed" study, scientists are looking at using tiny parasitic wasps as a natural solution to pesticide to protect crops."

Conservationists called the 13-nation agreement an important step in protecting the wild cats, whose numbers have plummeted in recent decades as human encroachment has eliminated more than nine-tenths of their habitat. Experts say there are fewer than 3,500 wild tigers today, compared to an estimated 100,000 at the beginning of the 20th century. Hailing the agreement, Michael Baltzer, head of the WWF Tiger Initiative, said "There never has been a high-level government commitment to take forward tiger conservation."

The Environmental Protection Agency said Monday it will investigate the impact of the chemical Bisphenol-A on the U.S. water supply and other parts of the environment. Federal regulators have been ramping up their scrutiny of the controversial plastic-hardener at the behest of scientists and activists who say it can interfere with infant growth and development.

"It is an irony not lost on the Chinese that the Year of the Tiger has not been good for the big cats. Back-to-back tragedies have spurred calls for greater legal protections for animals."

Sinar Mas Group, the notorious international palm oil pariah, recently made a remarkable announcement: The company's subsidiary, Golden Agri Resouces (GAR), intends to implement a forest conservation policy. Among other things, GAR's Forest Conservation Policy commits it to a goal of "no new development" on peat lands, High Conservation Value Forest areas or High Carbon Landscapes, respecting Indigenous and local communities, and achievement of RSPO certification for all its holdings by 2015.

"Yesterday, Brazilian politicians took a decisive step towards opening the door to massive new Amazon deforestation, by voting in favor of radical changes to the Brazilian Forest Code - the primary legal instrument for protecting the Amazon.  If these changes become law they will let hundreds of forest criminals off the hook, and massively expand the amount of forest under threat from the chainsaws"

"We know, for example, that Portland has actually reduced its aggregate carbon emissions since 1990 despite growing 18 percent in population, largely due to land-use and transportation strategies that stress infill locations, walkable neighborhoods, and transit-oriented development."

"Degraded peatlands contribute to almost 50% of Indonesia's GHG emissions; yet development in peatlands probably contribute less than 1 % to the national economy (GDP)."

26.6% of Hispanics lived in counties that violated 24-hour standards for fine particulate matter.

Research by Dr Johnathan Kool of the ARC Centre of Excellence for Coral Reef Studies and James Cook University, and his colleagues, has established that the richest marine region on Earth - the Coral Triangle between Indonesia, Malaysia and the Philippines - depends vitally for its diversity and resilience on coral and fish larvae swept in from the South China Sea and Solomon Islands.