<p>The Indonesian government has removed three songbird species from its newly updated list of protected species. The white-rumped shama, Javan pied starling, and straw-headed bulbul will no longer be protected from captive breeding and trading by private owners. According to Indra Eksploitasia, the director of biodiversity conservation in the Ministry of Environment and Forestry, the decision to remove the songbirds from the protected list was based on a socioeconomic impact study carried out by the ministry.

<p>Beginning this week, the Philippines government will impose restrictions on the development of land for nickel mining. The new restrictions will limit nickel mining to a production area ranging from 50 to 100 hectares at any one time, depending on the size of production and whether there is a processing plant. Miners will also be required to establish a 20-meter buffer zone inward from the mining tenement boundary and near rivers and streams,where metals extraction will be prohibited.

<p>An environmental group in Australia has taken legal action against the Queensland government for its use of baited hooks in the Great Barrier Reef under its shark control program. The group is arguing that the program, which allows 173 legal drum lines to operate within the Great Barrier Reef, is inconsistent with the Great Barrier Marine Park's main objective to provide for long-term protection and conservation of the Great Barrier Reef region. The case is scheduled to be heard in the Administrative Appeals Tribunal in January 2019.