The prospects of saving the world's coral reefs now appear so bleak that plans are being made to freeze samples to preserve them for the future.

Angela Merkel tried to give the world a wake up call to the glacial progress being made towards a climate deal in Copenhagen yesterday by writing off the chances of achieving a succesor to the Kyoto treaty this year.

The Prince of Wales's sustainable architecture charity is working so closely with a housebuilder developing new estates in beauty spots that it is causing alarm about its independence.

English farmers have been given a last chance to adopt greener practices that benefit wildlife and help to combat climate change or face deductions from their state hand-outs of cash.

It has come to the knowledge that the Centre for Environmental Science and Technology (CEST), Banaras Hindu University, will organize a three-day International Congress on Recent Advances in Environment Science and Technology from November 2.

Al Gore, the former American vice-president, yesterday hit back at critics who are labelling him the first "carbon billionaire" from his earnings as an investor in green technology, dismissing them as "global-warming deniers".

Mud and boulders loosened by heavy rains swept down a volcano and partly buried a small town in El Salvador yesterday, swallowing up homes as flooding and landslides across the country killed at least 124 people.

Three stories coming in focusing on deforestation, climate change and biodiversity: Scientists point out that when it comes to carbon emissions from peatland loss SE Asia leads the way; development of palm oil plantations on Borneo is threatening several

Wonderful is also brief. Wrap your gift as you would normally then scatter it with rose petals. Carefully wrap the present in cellophane ensuring the petals stay in place.

The slow apocalypse