Environment | The Guardian

Letter signed by 100 people including Stephen Fry and Ali Smith points out freedom to roam only extends to 8% of countryMore than 100 authors, musicians, actors and artists have written to Boris Johnson urging him to extend the public’s right to roam over the English countryside.The letter, signed by leading figures from Stephen Fry to Jarvis Cocker, Sir Mark Rylance to Ali Smith, calls on the prime minister to give people greater access to nature to improve the public’s physical and mental health. Continue reading...

Plan to draw up legal definition of ‘ecocide’ attracts support from European countries and small island nationsInternational lawyers are drafting plans for a legally enforceable crime of ecocide – criminalising destruction of the world’s ecosystems – that is already attracting support from European countries and island nations at risk from rising sea levels.The panel coordinating the initiative is chaired by Prof Philippe Sands QC, of University College London, and Florence Mumba, a former judge at the international criminal court (ICC). Continue reading...

European court of human rights case could result in countries being bound to take greater action

New hearing into 2013 death of Ella Kissi-Debrah follows mother’s seven-year fightAn inquest is to consider evidence that illegal levels of air pollution caused the death of a nine-year-old girl, in a landmark legal case.A coroner will be asked to rule that toxic levels of nitrogen dioxide, from the South Circular road in south London, led to the acute asthma attack that killed the primary school pupil, Ella Kissi-Debrah. Her mother, Rosamund, a former teacher, has fought for years for an inquiry into the role of air pollution from traffic in Ella’s death. Continue reading...

Angus Taylor hails data – but experts say much of fall not related to government actionAustralia’s greenhouse gas emissions fell 3% in the year to June due to the Covid-19 shutdown, the ongoing impact of drought and an influx of cheap solar and wind power, according to government figures.The government said it meant Australia had beaten its international 2020 target – widely regarded among experts as an unambitious goal. Continue reading...

Households are now wasting nearly 13% of their groceries and spending more on food delivery services, the Rabobank 2020 Food Waste Report showsAustralians wasted more food during the Covid-19 pandemic, largely thanks to panic buying and food delivery services.The annual bill for the country’s wasteful food choices skyrocketed to an estimated $10.3bn after the coronavirus reached our shores, according to Rabobank’s 2020 Food Waste Report. Continue reading...

£1.6bn subsidies for owning land in England to end, with funds going to improve natureWildlife, nature and the climate will benefit from the biggest shake-up in farming policy in England for 50 years, according to government plans.The £1.6bn subsidy farmers receive every year for simply owning land will be phased out by 2028, with the funds used instead to pay them to restore wild habitats, create new woodlands, boost soils and cut pesticide use. Continue reading...

Angus Taylor’s dire warnings about abandoning coal are going unheeded as the states forge their own path towards renewables

The case for the high speed rail line was heavily dependent on a projected increase in business travelThe case for a complete rethink of public transport priorities in the aftermath of Covid-19 – including a fresh look at arguments for and against the HS2 high speed rail line – is to be the subject of a major parliamentary inquiry beginning this week.The pandemic has led to a dramatic fall in commuting into towns and cities, as well as a national financial crisis highlighted last Wednesday by the chancellor Rishi Sunak in his spending review. Pressure to reduce carbon emissions is also raising questions about the desirability of the £27bn road-building programme. Continue reading...

The tiny freeloaders may be considered disgusting by many but new research shows they are crucial in shaping ecosystemsThe leech craze of the 1800s put parasites on the map. Collectors (usually women and sometimes old horses) would stand in ponds waiting for medicinal leeches to come and suck their blood. They were then picked off and sold for bloodletting.The parasites were so popular that by the early 1900s they were nearly extinct, and there was a coordinated effort to save them. Even so, the European medicinal leech, Hirudo medicinalis, has been labelled as near threatened on the IUCN red list since 1996, and remains one of the few parasites with formal protections. Continue reading...

What would Marx say? Visitor centre and cafe planned for historic London burial ground to capitalise on growing public appetite for genealogy while raising vital funds for upkeep

Analysis: The PM changed tone as soon as Joe Biden was projected likely next US president. Will a policy pivot follow?Scott Morrison’s language about Australia adopting an emissions reduction target of net zero by 2050, and about climate action more generally, is starting to warm up. The recent shift in the prime minister’s language invites two questions: is there a pivot under way, and is the shift real? Continue reading...

Archie Thomas stumbled across solitary windfall fruit that could be cross between cultivated apple and European crab appleA chance find of an apple on a woodland run has led one nature lover to discover a new variety that he hopes to propagate and name.Archie Thomas, who lives in the Nadder valley in Wiltshire, stumbled across a solitary windfall apple on a wooded trackway alongside a large area of ancient woodland near his home this month. Continue reading...

Home owners can get help from government schemes but do they really cut costs?When Graham Davidson and his wife, Pauline, retired to a bungalow in Norfolk three years ago they ripped out the old boiler and replaced it with an air source heat pump at a cost of £10,000. But this pricey replacement has turned into a moneyspinner for the Davidsons – and millions of British households are likely to follow suit in what is expected to be a revolution in home heating.Davidson, 68, who used to work in the car electronics business, says it was financial gain rather than saving the planet that was at the forefront of his decision. But dumping the gas boiler has probably cut his household carbon emissions by more than half. Continue reading...

Exclusive: ACF has been cautioned its charity status prevents it ‘opposing a political candidate’ over letter calling out climate change inactionThe Australian Charities and Not-for-profits Commission has fired a warning shot at the Australian Conservation Foundation, asking the environment group to “immediately read the guide on political advocacy” and consider withdrawing an open letter of complaint about Angus Taylor’s lack of action on climate change.In correspondence seen by Guardian Australia, the ACNC has expressed objection to a climate change open letter to Scott Morrison published in early November on the ACF’s website. Continue reading...

Deep discounts spark outrage on Twitter as campaigners highlight environmental costClothing retailers have come under fire for selling dresses from just 8p on Black Friday, with critics accusing them of encouraging “fast fashion” and unsustainable consumption.Related: Boohoo hires Sir Brian Leveson to oversee supply chain overhaul Continue reading...

Exclusive: Nationals MP said in 2013 he would sell the property, if he could get the right price, to avoid ‘any viewed conflict of interest’Oil giants Santos and Comet Ridge are again pushing to explore for gas under a licence that covers land owned by Barnaby Joyce, which he said he would sell almost seven years ago, acknowledging it could be perceived as a conflict of interest.In 2013, Joyce was revealed to own land in Gwabegar, near the Pilliga state forest in north-west New South Wales, a region central to the state’s coal seam gas development plans. Continue reading...

Fears nitrogen and phosphorus could be released in large quantities into soil at grave sites

The best of the week’s wildlife pictures from around the world, including desert-dwelling sheep and a plant that has evolved to hide from humans Continue reading...

Scientists fear fur farm animals in wild could create ‘lasting’ Covid reservoir that could then spread back to humansEscaped mink carrying the virus that causes Covid-19 could potentially infect Denmark’s wild animals, raising fears of a permanent Sars-CoV-2 reservoir from which new virus variants could be reintroduced to humans.Denmark, the world’s largest exporter of mink fur, announced in early November that it would cull the country’s farmed mink after discovering a mutated version of the virus that could have jeopardised the efficacy of future vaccines.

With nearly 400,000 crew members trapped at sea by Covid restrictions, it’s time for retailers like Amazon to help press for key worker status

Survey of 600 people finds some parents regret having offspring for same reason

Virus causing ‘high levels of mortality’ in birds, with risk to chickens and other poultryA spate of baffling swan deaths is strongly suspected to be caused by a virulent new strain of avian flu sweeping across Britain.Dying swans were found spinning in circles and discharging blood from their nostrils on Ulverston canal, Cumbria. Swan rescuers have taken in more than 25 dying birds in Worcestershire and nine swans were found dead in Stanley Park, Blackpool. Postmortem examinations have confirmed that six black swans and cygnets that died in Dawlish, Devon, had contracted the latest strain of bird flu, H5N8. Continue reading...

The Coalition plan to hand development approval powers to the states hits a further roadblock after Senate inquiryA Morrison government plan to change Australia’s environment laws to allow development approval powers to be handed to the states has hit a further roadblock, with three key crossbench senators saying in a report they will not support them.The crossbenchers’ opposition means that, together with Labor and the Greens, the Morrison government’s laws would be voted down in the Senate. But one crossbench senator told Guardian Australia he could change his mind once he had seen details in documents that the government has so far withheld. Continue reading...

Amitav Ghosh, Margaret Atwood and Emma Thompson are among 20 activists and cultural figures to speak at Writers Rebel eventWriters and activists including Emma Thompson, Margaret Atwood and Amitav Ghosh are to speak about their favourite endangered animals as part of a remembrance day for lost species.The snow leopard, pangolin and vaquita porpoise are among the endangered animals that will be championed by participants at the free online event, On the Brink, organised by Writers Rebel, which is part of Extinction Rebellion. Continue reading...

Ministers have refused to sign safeguards, potentially spelling disaster for farmers after BrexitMinisters’ pledges to preserve the UK’s food and farming standards after Brexit will not prevent the import of lower-standard products and could spell potential disaster for Britain’s farmers, a report has found.The government has repeatedly promised that a ban on chlorinated chicken and hormone-treated beef would remain in place after Brexit, and has made changes to the way future trade bills will be scrutinised. But ministers have refused to sign safeguards on imported food into law, despite pressure from consumers and civil society groups. Continue reading...

Public accounts committee says ignorance, incompetence and weak oversight to blameThe Nuclear Decommissioning Authority (NDA) has a perpetual lack of knowledge about the state and location of waste on the 17 sites it is responsible for making safe, a powerful committee of MPs has found.This results from decades of poor record keeping and weak government oversight, the MPs said. Combined with a “sorry saga” of incompetence and failure, this has left taxpayers footing the bill for “astronomical sums”, they said. Continue reading...

Industry promotes materialism and lifts sales of climate-harming products, study saysAdvertising needs to be controlled and changed to reduce its impact on the climate, according to a report released as consumers prepare to spend billions on Black Friday.The report by the New Weather Institute thinktank and the charity We are Possible examines how advertising indirectly contributes to climate change and the ecological emergency. Continue reading...

Long-running investigation found state’s conduct on the basin was flawed, but not corruptA long-running investigation into New South Wales’ management of water in the Murray-Darling basin has not found any corrupt conduct but has concluded the state’s water policies were undermined for a decade by departmental favouring of the irrigation industry.In two related investigations known as Operation Avon and Operation Mezzo, the Independent Commission Against Corruption (Icac) examined multiple allegations, over almost a decade, concerning complaints of corruption involving the management of water, particularly in the Barwon-Darling area of the Murray-Darling Basin. Continue reading...

Regulation will help prevent deaths of 1m waterbirds by lead poisoning every yearLead shot is to be banned from all wetlands in the European Union, in a decision that is expected to pave the way for phasing out all toxic ammunition.The European parliament voted against objections lodged by far-right parties, allowing the European commission to introduce the new regulations by the end of the year. Continue reading...

Scottish environment minister said self-regulation by grouse shooting industry had failedScottish grouse moors will be controlled by a strict licensing regime after the industry failed to combat the illegal persecution of birds of prey, the Scottish government has announced.Mairi Gougeon, an environment minister, said work on drafting new legislation would start immediately, several years earlier than recommended by an expert review into the regulation of grouse moors led by Prof Alan Werritty last year. Continue reading...

Processing plant on a Papua New Guinean island may bring more commercial pressure on fisheries in areas where regulation is uncertainA $200m Chinese-built fishery plant planned for a Papua New Guinean island could allow Chinese-backed commercial vessels to fish legally in the Torres Strait, and has raised concerns about unregulated fishing in the same waters, potentially threatening the Australian industry and local PNG fishers.China’s ministry of commerce this month announced a $527m kina (A$204m) deal to establish a “comprehensive multi-functional fishery industrial park” project on Daru Island, in PNG’s Western Province. Continue reading...

Exclusive: Natural Resources Commission to consider the standards needed to practice sustainable logging in burnt forestThe New South Wales government is planning a review of forestry operations in bushfire-hit coastal regions as tensions mount between the environment regulator and Forestry Corporation.The review, which is still to be formally commissioned, will probably be carried out by the state’s Natural Resources Commission (NRC), government sources have told Guardian Australia. Continue reading...

Remaining UK coal plants, including Drax, supply 6% of grid’s electricity to cover power supply drop and colder weatherBritain has fired up some of its last remaining coal power plants to help keep the lights on as the country’s wind turbines slow over a few days and the demand for electricity rises.Three of the UK’s last coal power plants, operating at Drax, West Burton, and Ratcliffe, were called on to supply 6% of electricity on Thursday morning. Continue reading...

UN warns about consequences of not conserving water and tackling climate crisis

With the world 1C warmer, modelling shows there is still a risk of corals bleaching from heat stress this summerA global weather phenomenon that would typically keep ocean temperatures lower across the Great Barrier Reef may not be enough to stop another mass coral bleaching this coming summer, according to the marine park’s chief scientist.Global heating now meant the risk of corals bleaching from heat stress was present even in a summer influenced by the La Niña climate phenomenon, the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority’s Dr David Wachenfeld told Guardian Australia. Continue reading...

Springwatch presenter adds to warnings of threat to Welsh countryside if non-native species get outParts of the Welsh countryside could become permanently damaged if creatures used in I’m a Celebrity … Get Me Out of Here! escape, conservationists have warned, amid growing calls to ban the use of live animals on the show.North Wales police said it had advised the ITV show on “set management and biosecurity” following fears cockroaches, whip scorpions, mealworms and crayfish used in bushtucker trials might have escaped, after concerns were first raised by TV presenter and naturalist Iolo Williams. Continue reading...

Personal and home care sectors use an estimated 122bn sachets a year and few are recycledEnvironmental campaigners have joined forces with politicians and business leaders in demanding urgent action to tackle the distribution of billions of plastic “personal care” sachets.In an open letter published online, a coalition called A Plastic Planet is calling for so-called “sample” sachets – which can contain products such as detergent, shower gel or perfume – to be included in wider UK and EU single-use bans. Continue reading...

When the bird who dominated Oakland’s rose garden turned violent, the question of his fate caused ‘rifts that will never heal’The turkey locked eyes with her from across the park.Like many Oaklanders, sixteen-year-old Jojo Thompson had heard plenty of stories about Gerald, the “feisty” turkey harassing visitors in the city’s rose garden. But before visiting the seven-acre public park with a friend on a recent October afternoon, she thought the tales had been exaggerated. Continue reading...

New Zealand singer says Donald Trump, Great Thunberg and California wildfires spurred her to visit before it turns ‘to slush’The singer Lorde has written an impassioned entreaty for the world to face the climate emergency head-on after visiting Antarctica.Lorde said Donald Trump, California wildfires and the advocacy of Greta Thunberg spurred her to “head south” in a bid to visit the frozen continent before it turned “to slush”. Continue reading...

Denial of permit to controversial Pebble gold and copper delights environmental and indigenous rights activistsThe Trump administration on Wednesday denied a permit for a controversial gold and copper mine near the headwaters of the world’s largest sockeye salmon fishery in south-west Alaska.The army corps of engineers said in a statement that the permit application to build the Pebble Mine was denied under both the Clean Water Act and the Rivers and Harbors Act. Continue reading...

New infrastructure bank and emissions-trading scheme are insufficient, say campaignersA new infrastructure bank, to be based in the north of England, and an emissions-trading scheme covering large portions of industry were proclaimed by Rishi Sunak as evidence that the government is aligning its aim of rescuing the UK economy from the Covid-19 slump with its goal of cutting emissions to net zero by 2050.But for the most part, experts said the chancellor’s spending review and infrastructure strategy failed to give the kickstart to the green recovery that economists have been advising and green campaigners have urged. Continue reading...

A charge on electric cars is ‘completely incongruent’ with states’ targets of reaching net zero emissions by 2050, Dr Jake Whitehead saysVictoria’s planned road user tax for electric vehicles will significantly hold back clean car use, according to research that found it could lead to a 25% lower share of sales in 2050 than otherwise expected.The Andrews government plans to impose a 2.5c a kilometre charge on electric vehicles (EVs) and a 2c/km charge on plug-in hybrid cars from July. South Australia is also planning an EV road user charge, but is yet to announce the rate. Continue reading...

The miner has not revealed which parts of the Pilliga forest will be cleared and what it means for groundwater and threatened speciesOpponents of Santos’s $3.6bn Narrabri gas project say it should not have been approved given the company has not explained which parts of the Pilliga forest will be cleared or finished investigating what it would mean for local groundwater.The federal environment minister, Sussan Ley, announced on Tuesday the government had approved the controversial development, which would involve up to 850 gas wells being drilled in grazing land and forest in northern New South Wales. Continue reading...

Tesco, Lidl, Asda, McDonald’s and Nando’s all source chicken fed on soya from Cerrado tropical biome region

Squirrel seen swaying in video after woman put old pears from her fridge in her garden for wildlife to eatA squirrel in Minnesota has enjoyed an early and especially festive start to the holiday season by being videoed apparently drunkenly feasting on pears that had fermented and become alcoholic.The inebriated squirrel was caught swaying on camera by Katy Morlok of Inver Grove Heights, Minnesota, who had put out an old pear from her fridge in her garden for local wildlife to eat. She saw one of the squirrels – whom she dubbed Lil Red – snatch the pear and take it up a tree. Continue reading...

Experts says technology alone will not get close to solving aviation’s emissions problemsBoris Johnson’s “jet zero” goal of a commercial transatlantic flight producing no carbon emissions by 2025 is a “gimmick”, according to experts, who say technology alone cannot solve the impact of global aviation on the climate crisis.Such a flight would not be impossible, the experts said, but could only be a one-off and would encourage the view that other measures such as taxing jet fuel and frequent fliers were not needed to tackle aviation’s carbon problem. Continue reading...

But independent review criticises wildlife fund’s inconsistent approach to human rightsA long-awaited report into allegations that conservation rangers supported by the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) committed violent abuses in several countries, including murder, has cleared the organisation’s staff of complicity but criticised it for serious shortcomings in oversight.But even as the report was released, campaigners for tribal rights – including Survival International, which has long been a critic of WWF – suggested the report had failed to investigate some of the most serious issues and that it had been released two days before the US Thanksgiving holiday in an attempt to bury the news. Continue reading...

Exclusive: Former finance minister’s pitch pushes ‘zero net emissions as soon as possible’, which contradicts record while in Australian governmentAustralia’s former finance minister Mathias Cormann is continuing to talk up the importance of a “collective green recovery” on the campaign trail to be the next secretary general of the Paris-based Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development.In a “vision statement” for the position obtained by Guardian Australia, Cormann says undertaking “effective global action on climate change is a must and we must get to zero net emissions as soon as possible”. Continue reading...

Marathon parliamentary sitting wraps up, passing legislation experts say will help turn NSW into a renewable energy superpowerNew South Wales upper house MPs have finally passed renewable electricity legislation after a marathon parliamentary sitting in which almost 250 One Nation-proposed amendments were rejected.The government upper house leader Damien Tudehope on Tuesday suspended the Legislative Council’s midnight adjournment to work through the 249 amendments to the electricity infrastructure investment bill. Continue reading...