Last week the Wildlife Conservation Society announced that the Republic of Congo has declared a new national park that will protect a few  threatened species. including a core population of western lowland gorillas, a critically endangered species.

Read the full story (Livescience)

Last week, President Obama announced the government would add almost 3,000 square miles of California coastline to the National Marine Sanctuary system, this triples the area of California coastline under protection to 4,500 square miles.

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Switzerland’s Parliament has approved a motion banning single-use plastic shopping bags. Both houses of the Swiss Parliament Thursday voted to forbid the distribution of the plastic bags. The next step is for the government to implement the ban.

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Tokelau (a South Pacific territory administers  by New Zealnad)  has become last month the first territory able to meet all its electricity needs with solar power.

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In South Africa there are now a solar powered school which was made by Samsung that turned a shipping container into a portable wired classroom to bridge the divide between rural and urban South African schools.

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The WCS (Wildlife Conservation Society) announced last week that officials in Madagascar have created the island’s biggest protected wildlife park. Named Makira Natural Park, the area, which is larger than the state of Rhode Island, provides a habitat for the highest diversity of lemurs on the planet.

Read the full story (livescience.com)

Last week, Pierre Arcand , the Environment Minister, said that Quebecers cut their plastic bag use by more than half in three years.
In 2007, they used around 2.2 billion single-use plastic bags, and by 2010, that number had dropped to about one billion, and Arcand said it may be even lower now.

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At the beginning of the month Toronto city council voted 27-17 to ban plastic bags and so starting 2013 it will be prohibit all Toronto retail stores to provide single-use plastic bags to their  customers.

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Last week Coquitlam council decided to ban shark fins from being possessed, traded, sold and distributed in the city. This local action follows a petition asking the federal government to stop importing shark fins, which are considered a delicacy in some Chinese restaurants.

Read the full story (tricitynews)

Honolulu City Council backs bill that ban stores and restaurants from distributing non-biodegradable plastic bags and non-recyclable paper bags.

Read the full story (hawaiimagazine)