City threat to native vegetation: Native vegetation has been hit hard across Melbourne and in surrounding regions that include key state tourist attractions, according to an environment snapshot. Only 30% of native vegetation remained in the Port Phillip and Western Port region, the Catchment Management Authority’s first annual environment report card found. It gave a dire warning about the impact of urban living on surrounding ecosystems. The catchment covers 1.3 million hectares of natural assets, including Melbourne, Port Phillip and Western Port bays, the Dandenong Ranges and upper Yarra forests. The Age

Kyoto? Bali? They’re miles from here:  you were to judge from the shrill triumphalism in Bali at the weekend, you would assume that international consensus has been reached and that it goes something like this: through blood, sweat, tears and boos at the UN climate change conference, 186 countries isolated the mighty US and bludgeoned it to agree to a blueprint for action — so all we need now is for the incumbent oaf to be replaced by a spanking new, climatically aware president, and ecological wisdom shall prevail. If you were to judge from inside the recalcitrant nation, however — and not from the cosmopolitan squats of Washington, New York or California, but from my part-time home in suburban Georgia, representative of what you might properly call most of the US — the view is very different. The Times

Two new mammals found in remote New Guinea: A miniscule possum and an enormous rat were recorded by scientists as probable new species on a recent expedition to a remote and virtually unknown area of Indonesia in the pristine wilderness of western New Guinea’s Foja Mountains. Scientists with Conservation International and the Indonesia Institute of Science, LIPI, were accompanied by the first film crew to obtain footage of the region and its wildlife on an expedition to the Fojas in June 2007.  The scientists discovered dozens of new plants and animals on their first expedition to the region in late 2005. Environment News Service 

Europe divided over targets for cutting car CO2 emissions: Emergency talks aimed at setting EU targets to reduce CO2 car emissions are being held today amid fears that bitter wrangling between car manufacturing countries could delay or even derail the process entirely. The European Commission is due to adopt a draft regulation tomorrow on reducing carbon emissions from passenger cars to 120 grams per kilometre within five years, but a bitter fallout between European heavyweights has plunged the key negotiations into crisis. Member states with car manufacturers that traditionally produce heavy, energy-hungry cars are concerned that the emission targets will unfairly benefit those businesses that make lighter, more efficient vehicles. Independent

China welcomes “Bali roadmap” on climate change: China on Tuesday welcomed the roadmap adopted at the U.N. climate change conference in Indonesia’s Bali, calling on joint efforts from the international community to reach a global climate agreement by the end of 2009. “The roadmap has shown the way and set a timetable for future negotiations on global climate change,” Foreign Ministry spokesman Qin Gang told a regular press conference. China will continue to participate actively in relevant negotiations, he said, urging developed countries to continue to reduce emissions after 2012 according to the roadmap, and to leverage new funding and support for technology transfer, finance and adaptation for the developing world. Xinhua