International talks on establishing huge marine reserves in Antarctica have failed to reach a consensus.
Russia blocked attempts by western countries to set up the protected areas in the Ross Sea and Eastern Antarctica.
The Russian representative challenged the legal basis that would allow for the creation of such reserves, according to organisations at the talks in Germany.
The proposal was previously scuppered when governments met in 2012.
The Commission for the Conservation of Antarctic Marine Living Resources (CCAMLR) is made up of countries with an interest in the Southern Ocean, and includes Australia, the US, the UK, China and Russia among its members. Any decisions taken require consensus among all parties.
This meeting in Bremerhaven has been called to deal specifically with proposals for the establishment of reserves that would ban fishing and protect species including seals and penguins. If successful the plans would more than double the area of the world's oceans that are protected.
The US and New Zealand were again backing a proposal to create a marine protected zone in the Ross Sea with a total area of 2.3 million sq km, making it the biggest in the world.
Another proposal from Australia, France and the European Union would have created protected areas in East Antarctica covering around 1.63 million sq km.
Source: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-23327315#sa-ns_mchannel=rss&ns_source=PublicRSS20-sa
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