Alicia Ramsay was hit by humpback whale’s fin days after two others injured swimming at tourist hotspot Ningaloo reefA woman snorkelling on Ningaloo Reef, on the north-west coast of Western Australia, has become the third person to be injured by a humpback whale there in less than a week.The woman, Alicia Ramsay, 30, was flown to Royal Perth hospital with rib fractures on Thursday after being hit by the whale, which was swimming nearby with its calf. Continue reading...

Country’s prime minister has asked France for help in tackling the disasterThe Indian Ocean island of Mauritius has declared a “state of environmental emergency” after a Japanese-owned ship that ran aground offshore days ago began spilling tons of fuel.The prime minister, Pravind Jugnauth, made the announcement late on Friday as satellite images showed a dark slick spreading in the turquoise waters near environmental areas that the government called “very sensitive”. Continue reading...

Giant turbines operating from anchored rafts can harness strong offshore windsOffshore wind farm potential is enormous. They are no longer limited to shallow water but can operate from anchored rafts - and the size and output of the turbines keeps increasing.Less than a decade ago turbines of three megawatts (MW) were the new giants – now the industry is installing 10mMW machines, and designs for 15 to 20MW are ready. The newest turbines will be 150 metres high with a rotor diameter of 240 metres – that is the length of more than two football pitches. Continue reading...

The National Park Service has warned against sacrificing slower friends in a bear attack ‘even if the friendship has run its course’There are a few potential reactions to being attacked by a bear – stand your ground and attempt to scare it off, run away or perhaps curl up into the fetal position and hope for the best.The US government has now, however, officially advised against the most cowardly option: pushing over a slower friend to save yourself. Continue reading...

The pick of the world’s best flora and fauna photos, including a giant pangolin and a tiny hummingbird Continue reading...

Expert warns of health implications of climate emergency as Britons flock to beaches

Last fully intact ice shelf in the Canadian Arctic lost more than 40% of its areas in two days at the end of JulyThe last fully intact ice shelf in the Canadian Arctic has collapsed, losing more than 40% of its area in just two days at the end of July.The Milne Ice Shelf is at the fringe of Ellesmere Island, in the sparsely populated northern Canadian territory of Nunavut. Continue reading...

Plan is to turn stretch of River Wharfe in Ilkley into a swimming area where water quality is regularly monitoredThe creation of the first designated bathing water spot in a UK river has moved one step closer after the government published a consultation on the plans.A stretch of the River Wharfe in Ilkley, which is popular with swimmers and families, would be the only river in the country to be subjected to strict monitoring during May to October to ensure the water is of good quality. Continue reading...

Drop in emissions was a blip, say scientists, and a green recovery is vital to halt global heatingThe draconian coronavirus lockdowns across the world have led to sharp drops in carbon emissions, but this will have “negligible” impact on the climate crisis, with global heating cut by just 0.01C by 2030, a study has found.But the analysis also shows that putting the huge sums of post-Covid-19 government funding into a green recovery and shunning fossil fuels will give the world a good chance of keeping the rise in global temperatures below 1.5C. The scientists said we are now at a “make or break” moment in keeping under the limit – as compared with pre-industrial levels – agreed by the world’s governments to avoid the worst effects of global heating. Continue reading...

District councils want to protect beauty spots during coming warm and sunny weekend

MV Wakashio breaking up after running aground at Pointe d’Esny near marine parkThe Indian Ocean island of Mauritius is facing an environmental crisis after oil began leaking from a bulk carrier that ran aground in July and started to break up in rough seas.“We are in an environmental crisis situation,” said the environment minister, Kavy Ramano, while the fishing minister, Sudheer Maudhoo, said: “This is the first time that we are faced with a catastrophe of this kind and we are insufficiently equipped to handle this problem.” Continue reading...

German carmaker puts pressure on UK government over proposed ban on hybridsMore than 10,000 BMW plug-in hybrid cars on British roads will be able to automatically swap to battery power when entering low emissions zones in London or Birmingham city centres from Friday.Newer BMW cars will be able to switch automatically from burning fossil fuels in internal combustion engines to using battery power with zero exhaust emissions as soon as the car’s GPS navigation system detects that it has reached an emissions zone. Continue reading...

Residents call on the federal environment minister to rule out a development the NSW government wants fast-trackedResidents of the New South Wales town of Port Stephens are calling on the federal environment minister, Sussan Ley, to save 52 hectares of koala habitat set to be destroyed by the expansion of a quarry.The state’s independent planning commission recently approved the expansion of the Brandy Hill rock quarry in Port Stephens in the Hunter region, just two weeks after a parliamentary inquiry found koalas in the state would be extinct by 2050 without urgent government intervention. Continue reading...

Researchers say moderate reductions in CO2 emissions could halve their likelihoodExtreme droughts are likely to become much more frequent across central Europe, and if global greenhouse gas emissions rise strongly they could happen seven times more often, new research has shown.The area of crops likely to be affected by drought is also set to increase, and under sharply rising CO2 levels would nearly double in central Europe in the second half of this century, to more than 40m hectares (154,440 sq miles) of farmland. Continue reading...

Any improvements would be eclipsed by damage done to nature, green groups sayRadical changes to planning rules in England will damage nature, increase air pollution and leave local people with no say on protecting urban wildlife corridors, environmental charities say.Green organisations reacted angrily to the government’s plans to sweep away current planning restrictions and adopt what one NGO said was a “pervasively permissive” approach to development that would leave the environment unprotected. Continue reading...

India’s commercial capital grinds to a halt after heaviest August rainfall in 47 years causes widespread floodingThe heaviest monsoon downpour in nearly 50 years has brought Mumbai to a standstill, with stranded passengers at railway stations having to be rescued by dinghies from waist-high water.People who live in areas normally unaffected by the annual monsoon flooding looked out from their high-rise flats at new swirling rivers outside caused by the heaviest single day’s rain recorded in August in 47 years. Continue reading...

Roads near Courmayeur closed to tourists because of threat from falling Planpincieux iceHomes have been evacuated in Courmayeur in Italy’s Aosta valley, after a renewed warning that a huge portion of a Mont Blanc glacier is at risk of collapse.The measures were introduced on Wednesday morning after experts from the Fondazione Montagne Sicura (Safe Mountains Foundation) said 500,000 cubic metres of ice was in danger of sliding off the Planpincieux glacier on the Grandes Jorasses park. Continue reading...

Exclusive: Queensland Treasury Corporation told Palaszczuk government the under-investment was costing tourism sector up to $3.3bn a yearThe Queensland Treasury Corporation warned the state government that its ongoing under-investment in national parks and other protected areas was “not sustainable”, harmed conservation efforts and cost the tourism sector potential visitors worth up to $3.3bn each year.Guardian Australia has obtained a leaked report from the QTC – the state’s central financing authority – from 2018, calling for a “bold” government strategy and significantly increased funding for protected areas. Continue reading...

The tropical island edges out Madagascar as botanists estimate that 4,000 new species could be discovered in the next 50 yearsNew Guinea is home to more than 13,500 species of plant, two-thirds of which are endemic, according to a new study that suggests it has the greatest plant diversity of any island in the world – 19% more than Madagascar, which previously held the record.Ninety-nine botanists from 56 institutions in 19 countries trawled through samples, the earliest of which were collected by European travellers in the 1700s. Large swathes of the island remain unexplored and some historical collections have yet to be looked at. Researchers estimate that 4,000 more plant species could be found in the next 50 years, with discoveries showing “no sign of levelling off”, according to the paper published in Nature. Continue reading...

The former high court judge urges politicians to defend their institution rather than prioritise partisan self-interestDebates about climate change and the Indigenous voice to parliament have been hijacked by sloganeering and the “peddling of false and misleading ideas”, according to the former high court justice Kenneth Hayne, who has urged Australian politicians to defend their institution rather than prioritise partisan self-interest.Giving the annual Sir Zelman Cowen Centre oration on Wednesday, Hayne reflected on the decline of trust in institutions, characterising hyper-partisan debate as a “dialogue of the deaf” in which slogans substitute for facts, and protagonists decline to acknowledge doubt, nuance or alternative points of view. Continue reading...

Responding to Greenpeace campaign to cut links to Brazilian meat giant JBS, supermarket calls on government to ensure all UK food is deforestation-freeTesco has called on the UK government to order food companies to ensure all food sold in the UK is deforestation-free. The move comes in response to a new Greenpeace campaign calling on the supermarket to cut links to JBS, the world’s biggest meat company, over its alleged links to farms involved in Amazon deforestation.The supermarket says the UK should introduce due diligence across supply chains to monitor for deforestation. Germany is also weighing up a due diligence law on supply chains, reportedly supported by Angela Merkel. And more than half of Britons would consider rejecting meat products linked to deforestation, a YouGov poll for Greenpeace has found. Continue reading...

Report finds the offshore industry could create 900,000 jobs globally over next decadeThe world’s offshore windfarm capacity could grow eightfold by the end of the decade powered by a clean energy surge led by China, according to the Global Wind Energy Council (GWEC).A new industry report has revealed stronger than expected growth for the offshore wind industry, which could reach 234GW by 2030, from a global tally of just over 29GW at the end of last year. Continue reading...

Former prime minister says ‘helplessness’ is no answer and warns against increasing nationalism during coronavirus pandemicJulia Gillard has warned against a feeling of “received helplessness” that policies to reduce greenhouse gases are “all too hard”, citing the carbon price legislated by her government as proof climate policy “can get done”.Gillard, the former Australian prime minister and current Beyond Blue chair, made the comments on Wednesday in an Australia Institute webinar about the mental health impact of Covid-19 and the need to “build back better” with more early intervention on the other side of the pandemic. Continue reading...

Three New Zealanders among dead after avalanche hits Gapyeong holiday cottagesFourteen people have been killed and more than 1,000 forced from their homes as 42 consecutive days of rain, South Korea’s longest monsoon in seven years, triggered floods and landslides.Heavy rain, which has also battered China, Thailand, Myanmar and India, inundated farmland and flooded parts of major highways and bridges in the capital, Seoul. Continue reading...

Satellite images reveal guano patches, boosting known emperor penguin colonies by 20%Satellite images have revealed 11 previously unknown emperor penguin colonies in Antarctica, boosting the number of known colonies of the imperilled birds by 20%.The discoveries were made by spotting the distinctive red-brown guano patches the birds leave on the ice. The finds were made possible by higher-resolution images from a new satellite, as previous scans were unable to pick up smaller colonies. Continue reading...

Lockdown has hammered oil prices but it also offers a chance to refocus on clean energyBP has set itself the target of shrinking its carbon footprint to net zero by 2050. To do that will require big investment in a whole range of green energy alternatives. It will be happening at a time when the economic disruption caused by Covid-19 has sent the oil price tumbling and threatens to leave the company with more stranded assets on its hands.Something has to give in those circumstances, and that something is BP’s dividend, which was cut for the first time since the Deepwater Horizon oil spill a decade ago. In truth, the decision was a no-brainer, with perhaps the only surprise being that the payout to shareholders was reduced by half rather than by the two-thirds announced by Shell in April. Continue reading...

Human-caused sea level rise likely caused eight out of 10 floods in the region between 1970 and 2015, a study findsFlooding in localised areas around Sydney will happen almost every week by the middle of this century because of human-caused sea level rise, according to a study by scientists at the Bureau of Meteorology.The frequency of flooding around parks, gardens and footpaths had already gone up from less than two days per year in 1914 to a present day rate of about eight days per year, the study found. Continue reading...

Despite reporting one of its worst quarterly results on record BP shares closed up 6.5%

Former pirate’s haunt is a refuge for rare species, but coronavirus has kept away day trippers it relies on for funds

Ten-track record samples recordings of endangered, vulnerable or near threatened birds by artists from same countryThe song of the black catbird – with its flute-like chirps and screeching single-note squalls – was once heard across Guatemala, Belize and southern Mexico until large-scale farms began to destroy its habitat.Now, thanks to a collective of musicians, producers and DJs, the tiny bird’s song – and that of nine other endangered species from the region – could be heard on dancefloors around the world, with proceeds going to conserving the endangered birds. Continue reading...

Poorer, hotter parts of the world will struggle to adapt to unbearable conditions, research findsThe growing but largely unrecognized death toll from rising global temperatures will come close to eclipsing the current number of deaths from all the infectious diseases combined if planet-heating emissions are not constrained, a major new study has found.Related: Killer heat: US racial injustices will worsen as climate crisis escalates Continue reading...

A new research programme in Gabon is identifying the ‘isotopic fingerprint’ of the world’s most-trafficked mammal in the fight to beat smugglersAfter a two-week chase through Lopé-Okanda national park, a mosaic of rainforest and savannah in central Gabon, David Lehmann and his Wildlife Capture Unit were celebrating – they had caught a giant pangolin nicknamed Ghost, the biggest on record.The team – consisting of eco-guards, an indigenous tracker, a field biologist and a wildlife vet – hope that Ghost, who weighs 38kg and measures 1.72m from nose to tail, will give valuable insights in their fight against poaching. Continue reading...

Mounted seats, cargo bikes and trailers offer families different options to give cycling a goThose lockdown days of blissfully quiet roads may be behind us but, with local authorities across the UK investing in cycle infrastructure, now is still an excellent time to give cycling a go. That is especially true for young city-dwelling families who would formerly have relied on public transport to get around but are now reluctant to risk a bus, tram or train journey.Fortunately, cycling with small children is not merely convenient and healthy but also great fun too. Here is how to do it. Continue reading...

Church of England and Duchy of Cornwall come last in ranking of major landowners by forest coverMany of England’s biggest landowners are not doing enough to plant trees to tackle the climate crisis, according to new data.Government departments, companies such as United Utilities and Network Rail, the royal family and organisations such as the Church of England and the National Trust are among the biggest owners of land in the country, but most have forest cover on their land that is only slightly above the national average, despite having pledged to reduce their carbon footprint. Continue reading...

Some places in NSW and Queensland had record rainfalls, while Tasmania had its second-driest July on record

At least four people who were unaware of government warnings planted seeds that arrived in mailAmericans have been planting mystery seeds which appeared to be sent from China, unaware of government warnings to dispose of the suspicious shipments.Related: Sowing doubt: people around world receive mystery seed parcels Continue reading...

Animals including leopards have almost disappeared in protected habitatsEfforts to protect the giant panda have failed to safeguard large mammals sharing its habitats, according to research showing dramatic declines in leopards and other predators.In its effort to save the giant panda, China has cracked down on poachers, outlawed the trade in panda hides and mapped out dozens of protected habitats. Continue reading...

New research has found extreme melting of the country’s glaciers in 2018 was at least ten times more likely due to human-caused global heatingTwice a year, glaciologist Lauren Vargo and her colleagues set up camp beside two small lakes close to New Zealand’s Brewster glacier. Each time the trek to carry the measuring stakes takes a little bit longer as the glacier’s terminus gets further away.Dr Vargo, a native of Ohio now working at the Antarctic Research Centre at the Victoria University of Wellington, is studying New Zealand’s glaciers from the air and on the ice. Continue reading...

Stories have emerged of mass killings of chickens and pigs, a tiny fraction of daily abuses heaped on farmed animalsMore than any event in recent history, the coronavirus pandemic has made plain the consequences of our abuse of animals. From the Chinese wet market where the virus likely emerged to the American slaughterhouses which have become key vectors of transmission, our ravenous demand for cheap meat has been implicated in enormous human suffering. But the suffering is not ours alone. The pandemic has also focused our attention on how American agribusiness – which has benefited from deregulation under the Trump administration – abuses animals on an industrial scale.Related: US nears 150,000 Covid-19 deaths as Republicans and Democrats pitch opposing plans – live Continue reading...

Phone banks, social media and friend-to-friend campaigning are the new focus ahead of this year’s US elections

Hannah Duston, subject of the first publicly funded US monument to a woman, is implicated in the deaths of 10 Native AmericansThe statue is the earliest publicly funded monument to a woman in the US.It stands in the out-of-the-way town of Boscawen, New Hampshire. It shows a woman holding a hatchet in one hand and a fistful of scalps in the other. Her name is Hannah Duston. Continue reading...

Charges were brought against Peter Harris after revelations on ABC’s Four Corners in 2017One of the most prominent irrigators in north-west New South Wales, Peter Harris, has been acquitted of taking water from the Barwon-Darling while his meters were not working after the land and environment court found prosecutors had failed to establish all elements of the offence.The charges were brought after revelations on Four Corners in 2017 alleging illegal taking of water from the Barwon-Darling by cotton growers. Continue reading...

High-polluting cars are threat to public health, says New Weather Institute thinktankAdvertising of sports utility vehicles, which emit more greenhouse gases than other cars, should be banned so the UK can meet its climate goals, a report has said.The large increase in numbers of SUVs in the UK and around the world is the second-largest contributor to the increase in global emissions since 2010, according to the International Energy Agency. Continue reading...

Images show dozens of surfers about 10 metres from whales, which migrate up and down the Australian coastA whale calf, closely followed by its mother, came within metres of surfers and swimmers at Manly beach, in Sydney’s north, on Sunday afternoon.The pair were initially identified as humpbacks by onlookers, but marine wildlife experts later said they were most likely southern rights, which also migrate north to calve, then return to colder waters for the southern summer. Continue reading...

China continues to increase its coal power, but in India new construction has ground to a near halt

Exclusive: Hanwha follows Samsung in vowing to cease support, saying it had ‘no knowledge’ of environmental issues related to Carmichael mine

CEO wants limit on 2021 auction scrapped to help power green economic recoveryOne of Britain’s biggest wind power developers has called on the government to scrap the limit on its next offshore wind subsidy auction to help power a green economic recovery, claiming it will not lead to a rise in energy bills.Scottish Power has urged government officials to open up next year’s offshore wind subsidy auction to as many new projects as possible in order to deliver a “huge wave” of investment and jobs following the pandemic. Continue reading...

Proposals to install low-energy devices in seven coastal beacons in the north and the republic have angered campaigners, who say the enchanting ‘loom’ of the beams will be lostThe “loom of the light” is a phenomenon that lets you see the glow of a lighthouse from over the horizon. Particles of water vapour in the atmosphere scatter the light upwards so it can be glimpsed further than the line of sight. It is an optical wonder that has delighted – and guided – mariners for centuries.But now some fear an environmental push towards low energy will extinguish a loom that stretches across the Irish Sea, draining beauty from the nocturnal landscape. Continue reading...

Meet the business owners teaching Syrian and Malian refugees, prison inmates and those with learning disabilities to create successful and sustainable ranges of clothes and homeware – some of which are ending up in high-end fashion housesAt the Love Welcomes workshop, in a refugee camp outside Athens, Syrian women learn to weave on a simple loom. The recycled yarn and thread they use comes from life vests and blankets discarded by exhausted refugees as they disembark from boats. The throws, cushions and doormats they produce are sold online. “We support women who are waiting to have their papers and visas processed; it can be a hopeless, desperate time,” says Love Welcomes co-founder Abi Hewitt. “Our aim is to give people a reason to wake up in the morning and feel they’re contributing to society.” Continue reading...