By Nicole Hunt 

Ilich Ramirez Sanchez, better known as Carlos the Jackal, goes on trial in Paris on Monday accused of complicity in the deaths of 11 people. The charges relate to bombings in France in 1982 and 1983. Carlos is already serving a life sentence for the 1975 murder of two French security agents and a Lebanese informant; he rose to prominence after orchestrating an armed raid on OPEC’s Vienna headquarters that same year, during which three people were killed.

In Brussels, euro zone Finance Ministers hold their monthly meeting. Tensions are expected to be high following last week’s will-they-or-won’t-they discussions on a referendum on the new EU bailout deal.

The meeting continues into Tuesday when non-euro zone EU members join their counterparts for yet more talks.

The second round of Liberia’s presidential election is also on Tuesday, with the country set to find out whether incumbent President and newly-anointed Nobel Peace laureate Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf will serve another term or be replaced by former UN envoy William Tubman.

Dmitry Medvedev, Angela Merkel, Francois Fillon and Mark Rutte attend the opening ceremony for the Nord Stream 1 Pipeline in Lubmin, Germany. The gas pipeline connects Northern Europe to Russia via the Baltic Sea.

The International Energy Agency publishes its annual World Energy Outlook on Wednesday, which projects energy supply and demand worldwide through to 2030.

In Paris, the International Commission for the Conservation of Atlantic Tunas (ICCAT) convenes to discuss the recommended catch limits for bluefin tuna. The meeting follows a report last month which found that overfishing was rampant, with 140 per cent more bluefin meat entering the market than was reported from the Mediterranean alone.

News Corporation’s James Murdoch is back in front of the UK Parliament’s Culture, Media and Sport Committee on Thursday. The Committee recalled Murdoch to question him about testimony he gave at a hearing on 19 July, when he appeared alongside his father Rupert, which was contradicted by witnesses at subsequent hearings.

With all eyes nervously watching the global financial markets, the Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago and the European Central Bank hold their annual International Banking Conference on Thursday and Friday.

The New 7 Wonders Foundation announces the new seven wonders of nature on Friday, following a world campaign that has seen them visit 28 finalists sites and has encouraged people to vote for their favourites.

Meanwhile, the Special Tribunal for Lebanon, the UN tribunal set up to investigate the assassination of former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafiq al Hariri, holds a public hearing to decide whether to try in absentia four Hezbollah members indicted in the case.

The United States hosts the APEC Economic Leaders Meeting in Honolulu on Saturday, followed by the North American Leaders’ Summit with Mexican President Felipe Calderon and Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper on Sunday.

Candlelight vigils are held in London, Cape Town and Mariestad, Sweden, in memory of Anni Dewani on the first anniversary of her death. Dewani was murdered in an apparent carjacking while on honeymoon in Cape Town last year. Her husband Shrien was subsequently implicated in her death, and is currently appealing his extradition to South Africa to face charges.

Overfishing and dying oceans are in the media spotlight as never before. Will it change anything? 

With:

Will Anderson, double Bafta winner and producer/director of Keo Films and Channel 4’s Fish Fight

Quentin Clark, head of sustainability and ethical sourcing at Waitrose

Ian Campbell, OCEAN2012 UK co-ordinator working on the 2012 reform of the Common Fisheries Policy

Mike Kaiser, professor of ocean sciences at the University of Bangor

By Mariah Hamalainen 

 “We are facing a complete collapse of ocean ecosystems, globally”, said Professor Charles Sheppard at the Frontline Club on Wednesday evening during a panel discussion on the state of the world’s oceans.

The oceans have been exhibiting the effects of global warming since the late 1970s and a quarter of all coral reefs have died but there has been little awareness of the crisis among the media and the public in general until recently.

High-profile campaigns including Hugh Fearnley–Whittingstall’s Fish Fight and Project Ocean at Selfridges are encouraging people to take a look at the state of the oceans and what can be done to reverse the evident collapse of this delicate ecosystem.

The panel discussion – chaired by Guardian’s environmental correspondent Fiona Harvey – took the audience through many aspects of the destruction of this vital resource: Overfishing; pollution; climate change and global warming; overpopulation; greedy multinational fishing companies; destruction of coral reefs.

“Half of the humanity lives within a hundred kilometres from the ocean” professor Sheppard said. Although millions of people derive their livelihood directly from the oceans, little is done to stop the destruction.

“We in Britain don’t [yet] directly see the problem. We have Tesco’s between us and the environment.”

Greenpeace’s Richard Page shed light on some of the positive developments on the ocean front, as well as what needs to be done to safeguard the future of the global waters;

“The single most effective tool against ocean destruction is the creation of marine reserves” he said.

He also called for the media to play their part in mobilising the public;

One of Greenpeace’s victories was the moratorium on whaling. This could not have been done without the media; when people saw the pole being stuck on a whale it had an immediate impact. The media has an incredibly important part to play if we are to save our oceans.

The panel strongly agreed that consumer power cannot be underestimated:

“Change in demand from consumers would have a huge impact” Dr Alex Rogers said. 

Lobbying for policy changes, demanding that the fish we eat is from sustainable fisheries, and reducing the overall impact we have on the planet are all steps towards the right direction.

As Professor Sheppard said: “If we manage the oceans well, it is food for free”.

The world’s oceans are in a state of crisis and decline, with the continuing affliction of climate change, overfishing and other pressures.

The Oceans have a vital role as the earth’s circulatory system. But if the current state of decline continues it will reach a point where it can no longer function effectively and our planet will be unable to sustain the ecosystems that support humankind.

The Fish Fight campaign fronted Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall and Sir David Attenborough’s Horizon on The Death of the Oceans? have put the spotlight on the state of our oceans.  To ahead of the release of new scientific findings from IPSO the Frontline Club will kick off the first of a series of events with a panel of experts discussing what is happening to our oceans and what can be done about it.

In association with Communications Inc

Chaired by Fiona Harvey, the Guardian environment correspondent.

With:

Don Hinrichsen, award winning writer and editor and author of Our Common Seas and Coastal Waters of the World, Trends, Threats and Strategies. He is currently the senior development manager for the Institute for War and Peace Reporting (IWPR) in London and writes frequently on environment, population and resource issues for a variety of publications in the US and Europe.

Dr Alex David Rogers, professor in Conservation Biology at the Department of Zoology, University of Oxford and senior research fellow at the Institute of Zoology, London. His research focuses on the diversity, ecology, conservation and evolution of marine species. A founder member of the IPSO project (International Programme on the State of the Ocean), bringing together world leaders in ocean science with the aim of winning policy change to save the health of the global ocean;

Richard Page, one of Greenpeace International’s leading oceans campaigners with primary responsibility for coordinating the organisation’s campaign for a global network of marine reserves covering 40% of the oceans.  With Greenpeace for 18 years he has been heavily involved with the marine reserves campaign since its inception in 2003, both helping develop policy and implementing political and active campaign work;

Professor Charles R C Sheppard, professor at the department of Biological Sciences University of Warwick and tropical/marine environmental adviser for Foreign & Commonwealth Office’s Commissioner for UK Overseas Territories. He has been a participant on Intergovernmental Panel for Climate Change since 2002, fellow of Linnean Society of London, Conservation Fellow of Zoological Society of London and advisor to several tropical country governments on marine environmental affairs.