United Utilities is to fence some of the highest and most remote points in Lancashire, ravaged by wildfires sixty years ago, to allow its eroded landscape to recover.

Northern Ireland Environment Minister Edwin Poots and the Agriculture and Rural Development Minister Michelle Gildernew have launched a ground-breaking report entitled ‘Northern Ireland State of the Seas’.

In the week when the coalition government has announced its controversial proposal to sell off England’s forests, the IUCN is calling for more resources to be dedicated to protecting “invaluable forest wealth” and to restoring degraded forest landscapes.

Caroline Spelman, Environment Secretary at the Department for Environment Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) has announced that over 95 per cent of England’s finest wildlife and geological sites, covering more than one million hectares of countryside, are now in favourable or recovering condition.

Environment Agency Wales has published the full findings of its latest otter survey – nine out of every ten sites surveyed across Wales are now showing signs of otters, compared to only two out of ten in 1978.

Over 15,000 people and organisations sent responses to a call for ideas on the Natural Environment White Paper, a record number for a Defra consultation.

Five local authorities and Environment Agency Wales have been attempting to tackle the spread of the invasive Japanese Knotweed plant by using state of the art technology and digital mapping techniques.

The Government has welcomed the creation by the UN of a new scientific body on biodiversity as a major step forward in the global battle to stop the loss of animal and plant species and restore ecosystems.