Environment | WPN World People News

Ice floes with considerable open water near the edge of the sea ice. Taken near the 2012 record minimum low sea ice extent north of Svalbard, Norway.

Although an EU shark finning ban has been in place since 2003, the relevant regulation still allows "justified exceptions", provided fins are removed on board, and all parts of the shark used, so as not to leave discarded sharks without fins dying in the sea. In committee, MEPs voted to delete these exceptions, and thus oblige vessels to land any sharks with their fins "naturally attached".

Migrants on a rubber dinghy after the dinghy carrying about 50 migrants was brought in at dawn 25 August 2009 by an Italian Financial Police (Guardia di Finanza, GDF) patrol boat about 10 miles south of Lampedusa.

Sea ice can take many forms, as seen in this image of Arctic sea ice from a recent Operation IceBridge aerial survey. Varying thicknesses of sea ice are shown here, from thin, nearly transparent layers to thicker, older sea ice covered with snow.

Yesterday Greenpeace International Executive Director Kumi Naidoo addressed a special event in New York alongside 350.org founder Bill McKibben to call for a coordinated international response to the Polar crisis.

The Alaska Gold Company has paid a penalty for alleged Clean Water Act violations at the Rock Creek mine near Nome, Alaska. According to a settlement announced today by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, the company allegedly violated permit requirements for controlling storm water pollution during construction activities.

oil-soaked bodies of dead birds, victims of the New Zealand's biggest sea pollution disaster.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has signed an agreement with the General Electric Company requiring the company to take over the maintenance and replace, if necessary, treatment systems on wells that supply drinking water to four properties within the Cayuga County Groundwater Contamination Superfund site.

Portions of the Act 13 were overturned in July. It was the third time this year that state courts recognized the rights of local municipalities to limit industrial activities like fracking.

This month, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency is beginning three uranium mine clean up actions on the Navajo Nation. The work, expected to cost $7.15 million, is part of the EPA’s five year plan to address uranium contamination on the Navajo Nation and is being done in partnership with the Navajo Nation’s Environmental Protection Agency.