The International Whaling Commission issued a draft proposal on 22 April that would lift the current ban on commercial whaling, established in 1986, in favour of a progressive reduction and regulation approach. If approved, the proposal would allow limited commercial whaling to continue over a ten year period.

With governments tightening their coffers in the wake of the global financial crisis, development campaigners are calling for more transparency in the initial stages of climate change funding for developing countries. The campaigners say they want to ensure climate funding promises are over and above current development aid, rather than transferred from existing projects.

The future of the United States Senate climate change bill - which had been expected to be revealed on 26 April - is now in question after Senator Lindsey Graham (a Republican) threatened to withdraw support. But Senate majority leader Harry Reid (a Democrat) says he is working to ensure the energy legislation continues to receive bipartisan support.

Just seven weeks after the conclusion of the UN summit on climate change in Copenhagen, at least 55 countries responded to the Copenhagen Accord

France announced its support for adding bluefin tuna to Appendix I of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES), a move that would effectively ban all trade in the large, migratory fish. But environmentalists say France