Environment | The Guardian

The best of this week’s wildlife photographs, including a damselfly, turtle hatchling and beached manta rays Continue reading...

Authorities blame low oxygen levels made worse by receding flood waters as locals say latest event much more severe than previously

Grief at death of Kiska, Canada’s last captive killer whale, tempered by recognition of how she inspired a bill improving protection for cetaceansSometimes known as “the world’s loneliest orca”, Kiska the killer whale spent more than four decades in captivity at MarineLand, a theme park in Niagara Falls, Canada.For the last 12 of those years, despite wild orcas being social and intelligent animals that live in tight-knit family pods that hunt together and communicate through underwater clicks and calls, Kiska swam alone, in a featureless tank, with no calves, mate or mother by her side. She was the last captive orca in Canada. Continue reading...

Permanent park preserve temporarily closed over fears myrtle rust outbreak may compromise endemic plant species

Landmark report urges overhaul of wasteful water practices around world on eve of crucial UN summitThe world is facing an imminent water crisis, with demand expected to outstrip the supply of fresh water by 40% by the end of this decade, experts have said on the eve of a crucial UN water summit.Governments must urgently stop subsidising the extraction and overuse of water through misdirected agricultural subsidies, and industries from mining to manufacturing must be made to overhaul their wasteful practices, according to a landmark report on the economics of water. Continue reading...

New UN report finds the average Australian spent $580 buying 504L of bottled water in 2021

DoJ brief argues Colorado case against energy giants ExxonMobil and Suncor should be heard in state court instead of federalThe US Department of Justice filed a legal brief Thursday in support of local governments in Colorado that are part of a growing wave of local and state governments pursuing climate litigation against fossil fuel companies.In the brief, the DoJ argued that the Colorado case against the Canadian energy giant Suncor should be heard in state court, which is considered more favourable than federal court for plaintiffs who are suing oil companies over climate change. ExxonMobile is also a defendant in the case. Continue reading...

Enormous clump of floating algae threatens to bring pungent odor of rotting eggs to tourist beaches of Gulf of MexicoIt’s brown, it weighs millions of tons, it stretches over 5,000 miles and it is headed for Florida’s beaches. An enormous clump of seaweed circulating the Gulf of Mexico and Atlantic is set to coat beaches in a spongy goop, bringing with it a pungent odor similar to rotting eggs.The huge mass of sargassum is the latest in a series of massive blooms scientists have noticed in the Atlantic since 2011 but could be the largest yet. It is pushing west through the Caribbean and beaches in Cancún, Mexico, and Key West, Florida, have already seen large mats wash ashore. Continue reading...

Destruction of more than 100 trees in Plymouth highlights weakness of protections, says Woodland TrustMature and veteran trees should have the same protections as heritage buildings to stop destruction on the scale carried out in Plymouth this week, campaigners have said.The Woodland Trust is calling for an English Heritage-style body to enforce greater protection for trees – including those which have value to the attractiveness of a town or city. Continue reading...

Government accused of hypocrisy for pushing global target but not following Natural England’s advice at homeThe UK government ignored scientific warnings from Natural England that its nature restoration target was inadequate and would not meet its commitments, new documents show, undermining efforts to protect threatened species.In December the environment secretary, Thérèse Coffey, unveiled targets at the biodiversity Cop15 in Canada to reverse the decline of nature in England. They included plans to improve the quality of marine protected areas, reduce pollution and nitrogen runoff in the river system, and restore more than half a million hectares of wildlife-rich habitat outside protected areas by 2042. Continue reading...

Vast numbers of people drinking water with levels that would be banned in the US, research showsPressure is building on UK ministers to tighten regulations on PFAS “forever chemicals” as research shows vast numbers of people are drinking water with levels that would be banned in the US.On Tuesday, US president Joe Biden announced plans to drive down acceptable limits in drinking water to four nanograms per litre (4ng/l) for two types of per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFOS and PFOA), and announced proposals to regulate four more – PFNA, PFHxS, PFBS and GenX Chemicals – as a mixture. Continue reading...

Exclusive: Drastically weakened rules on how vessels document their catches of endangered species could endanger the marine ecosystem, confidential EU papers revealA push by EU fishing nations including France and Spain to weaken how fish catches are reported could see massive overfishing of endangered species and even “call into question” the whole point of setting quotas, according to confidential EU documents seen by the Guardian.Europe’s most commonly fished species – which include mackerel, tuna, Atlantic herring and sprat – could be threatened under the latest proposal, which would apply to all vessels in EU waters. Continue reading...

The Danish commentator has been accused of continuing to misrepresent findings about the costs of cutting emissions, despite pleas from scientists

Campaigners say chancellor is in the grip of the fossil fuel and nuclear lobbies and is ‘squandering taxpayers’ money’• Hunt U-turns on planned cut to energy bills support• What Hunt’s U-turn on energy bills support means for youJeremy Hunt has been accused of wagering a “dangerous gamble on unproven technologies” in an effort to decarbonise Britain’s energy industry after ploughing more than £20bn into a series of projects.In his budget speech, the chancellor confirmed plans to spend the money over the next two decades on carbon capture and low carbon energy projects; announced a competition to co-fund small nuclear plants and launched a consultation to classify nuclear as “environmentally sustainable”. Continue reading...

Exclusive: Labor and Greens concerned One Nation could gain at least one additional seat in 25 March election

Customers could face supply gaps if cold weather coincides with low levels of renewable energy generation

Feral horses trapped on high ground in Barmah national park during floods were fed by helicopter hay drops

Up to 1.2m butts to be diverted from landfill to a laboratory where scientists will work to transform the byproduct into a polystyrene replacement

A project with outdoor gear company Patagonia and NGOs will protect the Vjosa, one of the continent’s last free-flowing waterwaysOne of the last wild rivers in Europe, home to more than 1,000 animal and plant species, has been declared a national park by the Albanian government, making the Vjosa the first of its kind on the continent.The Vjosa River flows 168 miles (270kms) from the Pindus mountains in Greece through narrow canyons, plains and forests in Albania to the Adriatic coast. Free from dams or other artificial barriers, it is rich in aquatic species and supports myriad wildlife, including otters, the endangered Egyptian vulture and the critically endangered Balkan lynx, of which only 15 are estimated to remain in Albania. Continue reading...

Gujarat accused of being possessive after conservationists pleaded for more of the endangered lions to be moved to other areasLion conservation efforts in the Indian state of Gujarat have been so successful that a new sanctuary will be opened to house the abundant numbers of big cats.Gir national park is home to the world’s only Asiatic lion population and the only place outside Africa where a lion can be seen in its natural habitat. Continue reading...

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Coco cried tears of joy in court and said she would continue raising the alarm on the climate emergency

Experts liken act known as ‘ICEing’ to parking at a fuel bowser, and say high penalties are necessary to encourage EV uptake

Possums on Maria Island expanded beyond usual habitat and had become ‘pretty significant predator’

Category winners and runners-up in the annual British Wildlife Photography awards have been announced, and an overall winner chosen from more than 13,000 images of Britain’s nature Continue reading...

Extraordinary new limits introduced to require municipal utilities to remove six PFAS compounds from drinking waterThe US Environmental Protection Agency has taken the extraordinary step of setting legal drinking water limits for six of the most studied and toxic PFAS compounds, known commonly as “forever chemicals”, that are at the center of an ongoing environmental crisis.The new limits mark the first time in 26 years that the EPA has set legal limits for a contaminant in drinking water. Municipal utilities will be required to remove the compounds from drinking water, which could set off a wave of lawsuits directed at PFAS polluters, including the US military and chemical producers like 3M, DuPont and Chemours. Continue reading...

Rowan Ramsey ‘amazed’ government starting selection process in 12 months, given 33-year life of Virginia-class reactor

Since the drug lord’s imported hippos escaped after his death in 1993, the government has repeatedly failed to tame the booming populationThe first time a hippo emerged from the trees, waddled cumbersomely across the grass and slid down the river bank into the murky brown waters of the Cocorná River, the fishermen in Las Angelitas froze in awe.“We’d heard rumours of these hippos and seen footprints downriver but as we’ve never been to a zoo we’d never seen an animal like that in real life,” says Franki de Jesús Zapata Ciron. “An animal all the way from Africa, here!? It seemed curious and beautiful.” Local families stopped working and gathered to gaze at the three-tonne beast, Zapata recalls. Continue reading...

Biden may have promised ‘no more drilling on federal lands, period’ during his campaign, but the reality has been very differentJoe Biden continues to confound on the climate crisis. Hailed as America’s first “climate president”, Biden signed sweeping, landmark legislation to tackle global heating last year and has warned that rising temperatures are an “existential threat to humanity”. And yet, on Monday, his administration decided to approve one of the largest oil drilling projects staged in the US in decades.The green light given to the Willow development on the remote tundra of Alaska’s northern Arctic coast, swatting aside the protests of millions of online petitioners, progressives in Congress and even Al Gore, will have global reverberations. Continue reading...

The four-phase plan has made nuclear arms control experts nervous … here’s why

One of the strongest storms recorded in the southern hemisphere hit region for second time in a monthMozambique and Malawi have been left counting the cost of Tropical Storm Freddy, which killed more than 100 people, injured scores and left a trail of destruction as it ripped through southern Africa for the second time in a month over the weekend.Freddy is one of the strongest storms ever recorded in the southern hemisphere and could be the longest-lasting tropical cyclone, according to the World Meteorological Organization. Continue reading...

National Highways hopes design will prove more resilient to trespassers after last year’s Just Stop Oil protestsNational Highways has unveiled a new design for motorway gantries that it hopes will prove harder for protesters to mount and use to cause disruption.The renovated structures, which are expected to become the standard design in England from 2025, will have their maintenance steps hidden inside their pillars and will be more difficult to gain access to without authorisation. Continue reading...

Environmental campaigners furious Alister Jack intends to deny trade exemption for bottle recycling proposalsBlocking the Scottish deposit return scheme for bottles would be an environmental travesty, campaigners have said, in a growing backlash to the UK government plans to undermine the project.The charity City to Sea, which has been pushing for a deposit return scheme (DRS) to tackle plastic pollution, said the UK government could have avoided the clash with Scotland by working with the devolved countries to deliver a unified deposit scheme years ago. Instead Westminster had repeatedly delayed its own deposit scheme, which was only coming into force in 2025 – seven years after it was first promised by ministers. Continue reading...

Environmentalists and some Alaskan Native communities had opposed the plan over climate, wildlife and food-shortage fearsThe Biden administration has approved a controversial $8bn (£6bn) drilling project on Alaska’s North Slope, which has drawn fierce opposition from environmentalists and some Alaska Native communities, who say it will speed up the climate breakdown and undermine food security.The ConocoPhillips Willow project will be one of the largest of its kind on US soil, involving drilling for oil and gas at three sites for multiple decades on the 23m-acre National Petroleum Reserve which is owned by the federal government and is the largest tract of undisturbed public land in the US. Continue reading...

Campaigners say government and water companies have not done enough to conserve water suppliesRiver levels across the UK have been at record lows and are likely to be “devastated”, as new data forecasts broadly dry weather until at least May.Campaigners have said the government and water companies have not done enough to conserve water supplies by building reservoirs and fixing leaks, as months of low rainfall could cause some areas to run out of water. Continue reading...

Conservationists are confident invasive predator is dead allowing native creatures to flourish again in NSW’s Pilliga Scrub once more

Stephen Pritchard tells judge before sentencing that peaceful resistance is ‘most responsible thing I can do’A judge has jailed an Insulate Britain protester for five weeks after he vowed to return to the streets to carry out more disruptive protests if he was not sent to prison.Stephen Pritchard, 63, was one of the first four Insulate Britain defendants to be sentenced for causing public nuisance over their campaign of disruptive “civil resistance” protests on major roads in 2021. Continue reading...

PM says energy security strategy will launch shortly after plans reworked to meet net zero commitmentsAn energy security strategy will be launched “shortly”, Rishi Sunak has promised, with a focus on ramping up carbon capture and small modular reactors to develop homegrown energy and meet net zero commitments.Ministers have been forced to rework their plans after a ruling by the high court last July. It found that the government’s net zero strategy was unlawful due to a breach of the 2008 Climate Change Act, given the document did not outline how climate policies would meet legally binding carbon budgets. Continue reading...

Broadcaster speaks as Save Our Wild Isles campaign launches to halt destruction of nature in UKSir David Attenborough has warned that “nature is in crisis” as he urged people to unite behind action to save it.The natural historian, who has presented programmes including Planet Earth and The Blue Planet, spoke out as the charities the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds (RSPB), World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) and the National Trust launched a joint initiative aimed at halting the destruction of nature across the UK. Continue reading...

Research finds waste flushed down toilets and sent to sewage plants probably responsible for significant source of water pollutionAll toilet paper from across the globe checked for toxic PFAS “forever chemicals” contained the compounds, and the waste flushed down toilets and sent to sewage treatment plants probably creates a significant source of water pollution, new research has found.Once in the wastewater plant, the chemicals can be packed in sewage sludge that is eventually spread on cropland as fertilizer, or spilt into waterways. Continue reading...

Plans to protect 16m acres of Alaska and Arctic circle from drilling comes as president prepares to reveal decision on Willow projectJoe Biden has announced new steps to ban oil and gas drilling in the Arctic Ocean and limit onshore drilling in Alaska, as his administration reportedly prepares to approve a huge new oilfield in the state.Plans announced Sunday night will bar drilling in nearly 3m acres of the Beaufort Sea – closing it off from oil exploration – and limit drilling in more than 13m acres in a vast swath of land known as the National Petroleum Reserve - Alaska. Continue reading...

Severe flooding continued in Queensland; PM to meet Joe Biden and Rishi Sunak to announce Aukus terms. This blog is now closed

Steve Allnutt has watched the lush beds disappear from local waters over the years, and decided to take on the job of restoration himselfSteve Allnutt shivers and zips up his coat as he checks on the water tanks holding thousands of specimens. He confirms the temperature, adjusts the lighting and fishes out a tiny piece of kelp to inspect under his microscope.Allnutt’s unusual setup – in his garage in Lancing, West Sussex – features 20-odd tanks full of the algae. He aims for the atmosphere to mimic natural ocean conditions, so the air in the garage is brisk but the light is cool and calm, like a winter’s day. In summer, he’ll need to wear sunglasses. Continue reading...

Plan would provide fresh locally grown food, promote sustainable agriculture and cut carbon emissionsPlans have been submitted to create a first-of-its-kind urban farm on top of a multi-storey car park in Birmingham as part of a vision to “turn grey space to green productive space”.Slow Food Birmingham, a grassroots organisation that promotes hyperlocal food production, has sent proposals to the council to build a farm, glasshouses, community space and garden, as well as an education hub and cafe on the site. Continue reading...

The fund believes itself to be ‘one of the first’ in Australia to divest from a company over a concern for an endangered species

Indigenous Carbon Industry Network says it has no connection with Pieces of Australia, which confirmed it has removed content that may have been inappropriately used

Exclusive: Environmental advocates urge state to ‘do better than 30% by 2030’, and propose doubling of current targets

Amnesty International hits out at ‘shocking’ annual figure reaped through sale of fossil fuelSaudi Aramco has reported a record $161bn (£134bn) profit for 2022, the largest annual profit ever recorded by an oil and gas company, fuelled by soaring energy prices and rising global demand.The largely state-owned company’s profits rose by 46% year on year and it made more than the recent bumper results reported by Shell, BP, Exxon and Chevron combined. Continue reading...

Boss of packaging firm DS Smith calls for clarity on government’s long-term plans to decarbonise energyThe UK should “level up” its investment in green technologies to match the US and the EU, according to the chief executive of FTSE 100 packaging company DS Smith.Speaking just days before the chancellor Jeremy Hunt’s spring budget, Miles Roberts said the UK government needed to give a clear signal of its long-term plans particularly for low-carbon power generation. Continue reading...

Environmental groups criticise cut in passenger tax, which will increase flights, but government says it remains committed to net-zeroA controversial new cut in air passenger tax due next month was passed after the airline industry told the government it would lead to a new era of “ultra low” prices for domestic flights in the UK, with one airline predicting a 31% rise in passengers, industry documents reveal.The new cut in air passenger duty (APD) for domestic flights was approved by Rishi Sunak when he was chancellor, halving the price to £6.50 from 1 April. The rail industry has warned the move could increase carbon emissions by 27,000 tonnes a year and result in 220,000 fewer rail journeys a year. Continue reading...