Environment | The Guardian

Dismissal came days after release of new data showing increasing deforestation in the Brazilian AmazonBrazil’s government has fired an official at the national space agency Inpe whose department is responsible for satellite monitoring of the Amazon rainforest, just three days after June deforestation data reflected a continued increase in degradation.Lubia Vinhas was the general-coordinator of Brazilian space agency Inpe’s Earth Observation Institute, which is an umbrella for divisions that monitor the Amazon and panels to debate climate change with civil society organizations. Continue reading...

Report says there are substantial economic benefits to be had from ocean conservationInvesting in the marine environment offers many coastal states the possibility of a “blue recovery” from the coronavirus crisis, according to a report setting out substantial economic benefits from ocean conservation.Ending overfishing and allowing stocks to recover while ensuring fish farms operate on a sustainable basis would generate benefits of about $6.7tn (£5.3tn) over the next 30 years, according to an assessment of ocean economics by the High Level Panel for a Sustainable Ocean Economy. Continue reading...

World’s largest soaring bird flaps wings only 1% of time in flight, study shows

New water-sharing plans use data that ends at 2004 to calculate extractions from major tributaries in the Murray-Darling systemThe former NSW water minister Kevin Humphries has defended controversial legislation that effectively excludes some of the driest water years from figures used to calculate sustainable water allocations for irrigators, towns and the environment.Humphries, who confirmed he had been referred to the Independent Commission Against Corruption over unspecified decisions he took as water minister, told a NSW parliamentary committee that the 2014 legislation he introduced was to give greater certainty to all water users. Continue reading...

Investors give greenlight to $35bn worth of projects worldwide in first half of 2020

Diageo aims to begin bottling Johnnie Walker whisky using ‘world’s first’ design next year

MMTC-PAMP, a supplier to Apple and others, accused of not fully investigating alleged violationsA corporate watchdog is calling for the London Bullion Market Association (LBMA) to suspend the membership of one of the world’s biggest gold refineries for its alleged failure to act over claims of human rights and environmental abuses at a mine in Tanzania.The UK-based Raid group says the Swiss-Indian venture MMTC-PAMP, which supplies gold to Apple, Nokia, Disney, Amazon, Tesla and others, has not fully investigated claims police guarding the North Mara mine have beaten, shot and sometimes killed locals. Continue reading...

€2bn, 475-mile Viking Link cable will share renewable energy between UK and DenmarkConstruction work has begun in Lincolnshire on the world’s longest subsea power cable, which will run between Britain and Denmark to share renewable energy between the two countries.The 475-mile (765km) cable is a joint-venture between National Grid in the UK and Denmark’s Energinet. By 2023, the high-voltage, direct-current link will transmit the equivalent of enough electricity to power 1.5m British homes between Bicker Fen in Lincolnshire and the South Jutland region in Denmark. Continue reading...

Thirty-three rivers break water level records as relief funds criticised as inadequateTorrential rains have continued to batter China, destroying homes and rendering millions of people homeless as residents fear they may be facing a repeat of floods that devastated the country more than 20 years ago.The country has raised its national emergency response to the second-highest level as water levels broke records not seen since 1998, when floods killed more than 3,000 people. Continue reading...

The coronavirus lockdown adds to challenges for those on the frontline of the war against poaching

Species classed as ‘conservation dependent’ under national laws so can be commercially traded despite suffering 90% drop in numbersA shark routinely sold in Australian fish shops has been listed as critically endangered by an international conservation body, prompting environmentalists to call for stronger protection of the species.It comes as the government is due to release an interim report into Australia’s national environmental laws, the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act. Continue reading...

Conservationists say at least three females have produced offspring in the Forest of Dean

Exclusive: Australian Conservation Foundation escalates FOI battle over development at protected wetlands site near BrisbaneThe Australian Conservation Foundation has launched a legal bid to access documents – kept secret by the federal government – related to meetings between a major political party donor and authorities assessing plans for a development on protected wetlands near Brisbane.Walker Corporation plans to build a marina, hotel, shops and more than 3,000 apartments at Toondah Harbour. Continue reading...

Conservation charity aims to help restore 150,000 hectares of bee-friendly corridors to save the insects from extinctionAndrew Whitehouse has been on the cliffs at Prawle Point, south Devon, searching on his hands and knees for a rare bee. He saw only one last year, and so far this summer there has been no sign of the six-banded nomad bee with its striking yellow markings.Whitehouse fears it is on the brink of extinction because, as a parasitic bee, it depends on a host – the long-horned bee – in whose nest it lays its eggs, and the host is now also scarce. Continue reading...

While oil and gas are not alone in struggling in the economic slump, the reality of the climate crisis is starting to bite, analysts sayThe global oil and gas industry has crashed. In mid-June, BP – formerly British Petroleum – slashed the value of its assets by US$17.5bn and revealed plans to cut its workforce by 15%. It forecast the price of oil would be a third lower than expected for decades to come and said it may be forced to leave new fossil fuel discoveries in the ground.It was later joined by Royal Dutch Shell, which announced its own US$22bn writedown, with its vast gas business – including major liquefied natural gas (LNG) developments in Australia – expected to take the heaviest toll. Continue reading...

Architect is ignoring his own environment pledge, say critics

Emergency crews responded to the incident near Grafton but were unable to save teenage boy’s lifeA shark attack on New South Wales’s north coast has claimed the life of a 15-year-old boy.Witnesses have told police a shark attacked the teenager while he was surfing at Wilsons Headland at Wooli Beach, near Grafton, just before 2.30pm. Continue reading...

The state energy ministers still need to deliver on their promises, but imagine if any of them held the federal portfolioSometimes it just takes a bit of leadership.Former prime minister Malcolm Turnbull likes to say that we must choose “engineering and economics” over “idiocy and ideology”. The New South Wales energy minister, Matt Kean, has been making the right choices. Continue reading...

Labor calls for greater transparency into fundraising of foundation, which was awarded $443m by Coalition

The pick of the world’s best flora and fauna photos, including a ring-tailed lemur and a spiky sea cucumber Continue reading...

Tehran says incident in early hours in garrison town of Gamdareh was a power outageIran has denied reports that fresh mysterious explosions have rocked two towns close to Tehran, accusing the west of waging psychological warfare by spreading false messages on social media.Reports suggested that the blasts had occurred in the early hours of Friday in Gamdareh, a residential town that houses a number of military garrisons, including bases of the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC), and in Shahr-e Qods. Officials insisted the reports were false but accepted there had been a power outage. Continue reading...

Designed in 1984 and expected to be in service a decade ago, the project is still incomplete

Last week the PM claimed conservation causes construction delays – but newts are not the pantomime villains developers would have us believeLingering in the shallows of a south Norfolk pond, voracious amphibians are resting ahead of a night gorging on slugs, worms and insects. The pool network, long grasses and shrubs in Silfield newt reserve are a perfect habitat for the great crested newt – the pantomime villain for housing developers.The UK’s largest newt, which takes its name from the striking, jagged crest that males display in the spring breeding season, is a protected species under British law, thanks to the the EU habitats directive, which the prime minister’s father, Stanley Johnson, had a key role in creating. Despite that, its numbers have declined rapidly over the past 60 years. Continue reading...

Exclusive: reduced congestion most likely reason for lower nitrogen dioxide, scientists say

Ruling, which includes most of Tulsa, casts doubt on hundreds of convictionsThe US supreme court has ruled that a large part of eastern Oklahoma remains a Native American reservation, a decision state and federal officials warn could throw the entire state into chaos.The court’s 5-4 decision, written by Justice Neil Gorsuch, means that Oklahoma prosecutors lack the authority to pursue criminal cases against Native American defendants in parts of Oklahoma that include most of Tulsa, the state’s second-largest city. Continue reading...

Inchconnachan is up for sale for offers over £500k, but its buyer must share it with a colony of marsupialsIt is a rare opportunity; the chance to buy a heavily wooded uninhabited island on Loch Lomond, only a short row from the shore. Rarer still, this island comes with a mob of feral wallabies.The island of Inchconnachan, a 42-hectare property held by the Colquhoun family for more than seven centuries, is for sale for offers over £500,000, complete with a ruined 1920s cottage and outhouses, secluded bays and gravel shores lapped by the loch’s gentle waves. Continue reading...

But demand for ivory and rhino horn shows signs of falling, says UN wildlife crime reportLion, jaguar and leopard body parts are being increasingly sought as substitutes to tiger products by traffickers, a major UN report has found, but demand for ivory and rhino horn has shown signs of a sustained fall.Wildlife trafficking continues to pose a major threat to nature, global biodiversity and human health, the UN’s Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) has warned, following an analysis of trends in the multibillion dollar illegal wildlife trade. Continue reading...

You’re turning a perfectly good planet into a hellworld for money!

Release of a small herd of endangered animals in Kent is planned for spring 2022Wild bison are to return to the UK for the first time in 6,000 years, with the release of a small herd in Kent planned for spring 2022.The £1m project to reintroduce the animals will help secure the future of an endangered species. But they will also naturally regenerate a former pine wood plantation by killing off trees. This creates a healthy mix of woodland, scrub and glades, boosting insect, bird and plant life. Continue reading...

Water firms not addressing problem of leaks, causing loss of 3bn litres a day, report findsThere is a serious risk that parts of England will run out of water within 20 years, MPs have warned.The public accounts committee said the bodies responsible for water in the UK had “taken their eye off the ball” and the scale of leakage – more than 3bn litres a day – was “wholly unacceptable”. Continue reading...

Exclusive: Backlog of cases awaiting determination – including first one lodged under land rights act in 1984 – labelled a ‘betrayal’There are 37,000 unresolved Aboriginal land claims in New South Wales awaiting determination by the government, including the first claim lodged under the land rights act in 1984. The backlog has been described as “a national disgrace” and a form of institutional racism.According to research seen by Guardian Australia, the backlog has built over decades. Continue reading...

Class action aims to force city with one of country’s most expensive water rates to institute affordable payment planA coalition of civil rights groups have filed a landmark class action to permanently ban water shutoffs for Detroit residents and force the city to implement an affordable payment plan.Detroit, which has one of the most expensive water rates in the country, has disconnected more than 140,000 households since 2014, as part of an internationally condemned debt collection scheme which has left thousands of vulnerable residents without running water for months or years. Continue reading...

Trump’s energy secretary Dan Brouillette promotes ‘all fuels’ free-market strategy at climate and sustainability summitThe US has argued for less regulation of the world’s energy systems, speaking out against the policy interventions promoting clean energy that are central to a “green recovery” from the coronavirus crisis.Dan Brouillette, the US energy secretary, told a global summit of energy ministers, focused on sustainable recovery, that democracies should choose the free market over policies such as taxes, regulations and climate risk assessments on companies that would “steer people away from some energy sources and in the direction of others”. Continue reading...

Testing facility for zero-emissions four-passenger electric aircraft expected to be built in Narromine within the year

Environment minister Matt Kean says the push to build 8,000 megawatts of wind and solar is part of a plan to replace coal-fired powerThe New South Wales government aims to back renewable energy plants in the New England region with the capacity to power 3.5m homes, with the state’s environment minister saying enough will be built to replace most of the state’s coal-fired power stations earlier than scheduled.Matt Kean, the minister for energy and the environment, will on Friday announce a second renewable energy zone for the state, following a previously planned designated area in the state’s central west. Continue reading...

Fish and Wildlife Service had sought to strip safeguards, which would have allowed a limited number to obtain hunting licensesIn a stunning victory for wildlife conservationists and indigenous tribes – and for bears – a US court ruled on Wednesday that grizzly bears living in the vast Yellowstone ecosystem will remain federally protected and not be subjected to sport hunting.The US Fish and Wildlife Service had sought to strip Yellowstone-area grizzlies of safeguards conferred by the Endangered Species Act. This would have allowed the states of Wyoming, Montana and Idaho to permit a limited number of people to obtain hunting licenses, though sport hunting would have remained prohibited within Yellowstone itself. Continue reading...

Update to IUCN red list warns of hamster’s falling birth rate and high demand for fungusHamsters and fungi may not be poster species among those threatened with extinction but are no less important in ecosystems, according to an updated list of the world’s most fragile species.The European hamster once scurried across much of Europe and Russia but has now vanished from most of its original range and on current trends will go extinct within 30 years, according to the update of the IUCN red list, the global database of species on the brink. Continue reading...

Conservationists hope first known camera-trap images of species are sign of resurgenceRare images of a group belonging to one of the most endangered gorilla subspecies in the world suggest their numbers could be recovering after decades of persecution, conservationists in Nigeria have said.Seven Cross River gorillas including infants of varying ages can be seen in the first known camera-trap images of the species, taken in the Mbe mountains in south-east Nigeria by the Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS). Continue reading...

Pandemic prompted states to temporarily ban reusable grocery bags and stalled legislation aimed at reducing plastic packaging2020 was supposed to be the year America revolted against plastic.Consumers were refusing straws and toting their own coffee mugs. Legislators had proposed an unprecedented wave of laws to ban single-use plastics. Even companies like Coke and Pepsi were opening up to the idea plastic might not be the future. Continue reading...

Last time CO2 was at similar level temperatures were 3C to 4C hotter and sea levels were 20 metres higherThe amount of carbon dioxide in the Earth’s atmosphere is approaching a level not seen in 15m years and perhaps never previously experienced by a hominoid, according to the authors of a study.At pre-lockdown rates of increase, within five years atmospheric CO2 will pass 427 parts per million, which was the probable peak of the mid-Pliocene warming period 3.3m years ago, when temperatures were 3C to 4C hotter and sea levels were 20 metres higher than today. Continue reading...

Companies claim that reducing returns to cut energy bills will have impact on investment

Australians are reporting bird sightings at record rates – it’s good for the spirit, and for scienceMany Victorians returning to stage-three lockdown will be looking for ways to pass the hours at home. And some will be turning to birdwatching.When Australians first went into lockdown in March, the combination of border closures, lockdowns and the closure of burnt areas from last summer’s bushfires meant those who would have travelled far and wide to watch their favourite birds, instead stayed home. Continue reading...

Experts believe endangered shore plovers – known for their pluck and friendliness – might have flown away or been eaten by predatorsA specialist search and recovery team has been deployed to recapture the last remaining survivors of a flock of endangered birds that absconded from a predator-free island in New Zealand during coronavirus lockdown.There are only 250 shore plover or tūturuatu left in the wild and they are the world’s rarest plover. Conservationists have been painstakingly reintroducing them to the mainland after they were almost wiped out by cats and rats by 1880. Continue reading...

Sector excluded in transport emissions figures but policy change unlikely until 2023International aviation and shipping emissions are likely to be included in the UK government’s net zero target, it has emerged – but not until after 2023.The intention to review carbon accounting emerged after ministers and advisers, including climate activists, held the first meeting of the Department for Transport’s net zero board. Continue reading...

Summer statement’s focus on energy efficiency welcomed but disappointment that no boost for renewables

It may be best near-term way to remove CO2, say scientists, but cutting fossil fuel use remains criticalSpreading rock dust on farmland could suck billions of tonnes of carbon dioxide from the air every year, according to the first detailed global analysis of the technique.The chemical reactions that degrade the rock particles lock the greenhouse gas into carbonates within months, and some scientists say this approach may be the best near-term way of removing CO from the atmosphere. Continue reading...

Scientists claim widespread conservation can bring rewards if right policies are followedNearly a third of the world’s oceans and land area could be placed under environmental protections without harming the global economy, and even produce bumper economic benefits if the right policies were followed, according to a global assessment.Ecosystems around the world are collapsing or hovering on the brink of disaster, with a million species threatened with extinction. But if at least 30% of the planet’s land and oceans were subject to conservation efforts, that mass extinction could be avoided and vital habitats restored, scientists estimate. Continue reading...

Scientists use a strategy called assisted migration in an attempt to rescue tree species from inhospitable conditions