EU Council announces first-ever seafood trade ban against illegal fishing nations Brussels, Belgium: Today, four leading environmental groups - Environmental Justice Foundation (EJF), Oceana, The Pew Charitable Trusts and WWF have welcomed a decision by the EU Fisheries Council to place trade restrictions on Belize, Cambodia, and Guinea for failing to cooperate in fighting Illegal, Unreported and Unregulated (IUU) fishing.

Three million cubic metres of sediment from dredging to expand a coal port will be dumped in the Great Barrier Reef marine park, after the park authority approved the move on Friday. The spoil resulting from the Abbot Point port project is to be dumped 24km away at a location near Bowen in north Queensland. The expansion, which hinged on the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority's approval of the dumping, means an extra 70m tonnes of coal each year, worth between $1.4bn and $2.8bn, will go through the port, which is also a gateway to the world heritage-listed reef.

Tiny particles of waste plastic that are ingested by shoreline "eco-engineer" worms may be negatively affecting biodiversity, a study says.

Brazil says the rate of deforestation in the Amazon increased by 28% between August 2012 and last July, after years of decline.

The MCS points to the latest data (pdf) from the International Council for the Exploration of the Sea which shows that North Sea cod stocks are only slightly above what are considered safe levels for the species, despite a decrease in the amount fished.

The UK government has outlined its proposals on compensating for the loss of biodiversity through development. The idea of "biodiversity offsetting" is controversial, with some campaigners dubbing it a "licence to trash".

The park, Africa's oldest and most diverse, is home to over 3,000 different kinds of animals. Plans to explore for oil and exploit oil reserves put Virunga's potential value at risk.