Our global, profit-driven, meat-centered food system is making us sick. We need a radical rethinkIt was bats. Or pangolins. To hear common narratives about the origins of Covid-19, there is a simple causal relationship between China’s consumption of wild animals and the coronavirus ravaging the globe.Dr Anthony Fauci, the United States’ top epidemiologist, told Fox: “It boggles my mind how when we have so many diseases that emanate out of that unusual human-animal interface, that we don’t just shut it down.” His opinion echoes a growing chorus across the political spectrum that singles out China’s so-called “wet markets” as the culprit for the pandemic. The Republican senator Lindsey Graham has called the Chinese exotic animal trade “disgusting” and conservationist Jane Goodall has called for “a global ban”. Continue reading...

Pollution-busting clean air zones in cities have been put on hold, as authorities tackle coronavirus

Firm to cut carbon intensity by selling more green energy but critics say first step must be to stop new drillingRoyal Dutch Shell plans to become a net zero-carbon company by 2050 or sooner by selling more green energy to help reduce the carbon intensity of its business.Ben van Beurden, Shell’s chief executive, said the company must focus on the long-term “even at this time of immediate challenge” caused by the Covid-19 pandemic. Continue reading...

Hundreds of workers pass through Ajo, Arizona, daily. Residents say they have been partying and visiting stores in large groups

Welcome to our monthly roundup of the biggest issues in farming and food production, with must-read reports from around the webPigs and poultry are likely to be safe from Covid-19, according to German scientists, whose study showed that while fruit bats and ferrets were susceptible to infection, pigs and chickens were not. Coronaviruses have devastated farm animals in the past. Swine acute diarrhea syndrome coronavirus (SADS-CoV) killed nearly 25,000 piglets in China in 2016–17.

Half of real carbon footprint comes from ‘invisible’ cost of goods made overseas – study

Discoveries exposed by retreating ice include snowshoe for horses and bronze age skiThe retreat of a Norwegian mountain ice patch, which is melting because of climate change, has revealed a lost Viking-era mountain pass scattered with “spectacular” and perfectly preserved artefacts that had been dropped by the side of the road.The pass, at Lendbreen in Norway’s mountainous central region, first came to the attention of local archaeologists in 2011, after a woollen tunic was discovered that was later dated to the third or fourth century AD. The ice has retreated significantly in the years since, exposing a wealth of artefacts including knitted mittens, leather shoes and arrows still with their feathers attached. Continue reading...

Deforestation and climate change threaten the Achuar people’s existence - but a genealogy site is trying to protect its futureThe Amazon rainforest has been home to the Achuar people for thousands of years. Skilled hunters and fishermen, they have a spiritual connection with nature and consider themselves the forest’s greatest protectors.Life is governed by their ancestors, with family history passed down orally from generation to generation. Yet traditions are being undermined as the young are tempted away by modernity, while their fragile ecosystem faces man-made destruction. Continue reading...

Campaigners welcomed Wednesday’s ruling as a victory for tribal rights and environmental protectionThe controversial Keystone XL tar sands pipeline has been dealt a major setback, after a judge revoked a key permit issued by the US army corps of engineers without properly assessing the impact on endangered species.In a legal challenge brought by a coalition of environmental groups, a federal judge in Montana ordered the army corps to suspend all filling and dredging activities until it conducts formal consultations compliant with the Endangered Species Act. Continue reading...

Six organisations raise concerns with environment minister Sussan Ley about the impact of the bushfires and coronavirusSome of Australia’s biggest environmental organisations have asked the government to delay the completion of its statutory review of Australia’s national environment laws.Six groups – the Australian Conservation Foundation, WWF, the Wilderness Society, Environmental Justice Australia, Humane Society International and Birdlife Australia – have raised concerns with the environment minister, Sussan Ley, about the impact of the bushfire and coronavirus crises on the review process. Continue reading...

Australian government to back 43 concepts in ambitious $150m research and development programBrightening clouds with salt crystals and deploying slicks of coral larvae to try and limit the impacts of global heating on the Great Barrier Reef are among more than 40 concepts being backed by the Australian government in an ambitious $150m research and development program.A two-year feasibility study released by the government on Thursday has reduced about 160 potential ideas to a list of 43 that will be funded for further investigation under the Reef Restoration and Adaptation Program (RRAP). Continue reading...

Charter flights organised after appeal fails to recruit enough British workers

Cultural nuance and wider view of supply chain ignored in debate following Covid-19 outbreak, say those proposing regulation over ban

Wildlife conservation efforts are essential to preventing outbreaks, scientists and advocates say

Queen guitarist and new vegan says ‘eating animals has brought us to our knees as a species’ despite source of pandemic still unclear

With numbers plummeting and food hard to find, African penguins face a bleak future – but a novel conservation plan is under wayIt’s amazing to see wild creatures in their natural homes,” says Gaja Rojec, as she sits next to a group of African penguins that don’t seem at all bothered by her presence. It is late January 2020, and the Slovenian film-maker is just one of about 800,000 people who have visited Boulders Beach on South Africa’s Cape Peninsula every year to get up close to these charismatic flightless birds.At Boulders, just over an hour’s drive south of central Cape Town, African penguins swim, loaf around and breed within a few metres of visitors, who can even get into the water with them. Penguins normally nest on offshore islands, but this small beach is surrounded by houses which form a barrier to land-based predators such as caracal lynxes and baboons, making it a “pseudo island” where the birds feel safe. They have bred here since the early 1980s, and it’s now part of the Table Mountain national park. Continue reading...

Along with up to 30 new marine species, scientists have found a 150-ft example of a siphonophore, a string-like deep-sea predatorScientists exploring the deep sea off Australia’s coast have discovered as many as 30 new marine species – and what may be the longest animal ever seen.The discoveries were the result of expeditions into Western Australia’s underwater canyons. One of the biggest discoveries was a siphonophore measuring an estimated 150 feet (46 metres). Siphonophores are deep-sea predators made up of many small clones that act together as one and spread out like a single long string in the water. Researchers think this particular siphonophore may be the longest yet found. Continue reading...

EPA chief Wheeler says current soot regulations are adequate despite research that shows stricter rules could save thousands of livesThe Trump administration has said it will not tighten rules for soot pollution, despite research showing that doing so could save thousands of lives each year.Related: Coronavirus US live: Cuomo says Trump cannot order New York to reopen Continue reading...

Global economy could lose out by $600tn by end of century on current emissions targetsEvery country in the world would be economically better off if all could agree to strengthen their commitments on the climate crisis through international cooperation, new research has found.But if countries go no further than their current CO pledges – which are too weak to meet the goals of the Paris agreement, and would lead to dangerous levels of global heating – then they face steep economic losses. Continue reading...

Scientists say the rapid change could have negative effects on fisheries and aquaculture, and impact coastal vegetationWater in estuaries along 1,100km of Australia’s south-east coast warmed by more than 2C between 2007 and 2019, a new study finds.The rapid change could have negative effects on fisheries and aquaculture, as well as impact coastal vegetation such as mangroves, scientists behind the study said. Continue reading...

Dame Jane Goodall also reveals Duke of Sussex is finding departure from UK ‘a bit challenging’The British primatologist Dame Jane Goodall believes the Duke of Sussex will give up hunting because of his wife’s dislike for the sport, and thinks he has been finding life “a bit challenging” since the couple moved to North America.Goodall, 86, a friend of the pair who has been a guest at their Frogmore Cottage home in Windsor, said in an interview with the Radio Times that Harry and his brother, the Duke of Cambridge, were champions of the natural world – “except they hunt and shoot”. Continue reading...

Witnesses accuse government of covering up severity of blaze near site of nuclear disasterWildfires in Ukraine have spread to just over a mile from the defunct Chernobyl nuclear power plant and a disposal site for radioactive waste, according to activists, as more than 300 firefighters work to contain the blaze.A video posted by a Chernobyl tour operator showed flames and a cloud of smoke rising within sight of the protective shelter over the carcass of Chernobyl’s Unit 4 nuclear reactor, the site of the worst nuclear disaster in history. Continue reading...

Italian, Spanish and Greek farmers set to lose billions unless drastic action is taken to combat bacterium that has killed millions of trees

More than $80bn of investment decisions are delayed due to a collapsed oil price and a geopolitical price war

Saudi Arabia and Russia reach truce after collapse in demand caused by coronavirusThe world’s largest oil producers have agreed a historic deal to cut global oil production by almost 10% to protect the market against the impact of the coronavirus pandemic.Members of the Opec oil cartel and its allies have agreed to withhold almost 10m barrels a day from next month after the outbreak of Covid-19 wiped out demand for fossil fuels and triggered a collapse in global oil prices. Continue reading...

The Greens asked officials to calculate the cost of shutting down the native forest timber industry immediately rather than 2030 as planned

Campaigners raise concerns over investor’s financial interests in fossil fuel companies

Reduction of 5% would represent biggest drop in demand for industry on record

Broadcaster says ‘resilience is key’ after high court rejected case last weekThe broadcaster Chris Packham has said he will continue his fight against the construction of HS2, which environmentalists say is leading to irreversible destruction of ancient habitats and woodlands.Last week Packham applied for an urgent injunction to halt construction work and argued for a judicial review of the government’s decision-making process in relation to the £106bn high-speed railway. Continue reading...

Delhi is one of many capitals enjoying improved air quality since restrictions were introduced due to the coronavirusThe screenshots began to circulate on Delhi WhatsApp groups last week, captioned with varying expressions of disbelief. Having checked the air quality index, something of a sadistic morning ritual among residents of India’s capital, most could not believe their eyes.Gone was the familiar menacing red banner, indicating how each intake of breath is really just a toxic blast on the lungs, replaced instead by a healthy, cheerful green. Could it really be that Delhi’s pollution levels now fell into the category of … “good”? “It’s positively alpine!” exclaimed one message. Continue reading...

From the final verdict on George Pell to devastating Great Barrier Reef bleaching, here’s our roundup of important storiesAs Australia’s coronavirus outbreak continues, a lot of important news has slipped under the radar.Here are the most important stories you may have missed over the past week. From the statement of George Pell’s accuser to the worst coral bleaching the Great Barrier Reef has ever seen. Continue reading...

The pick of the world’s best flora and fauna photos, including Indian monkeys and a Parisian duck

Crisis destroys foreign sales of shellfish and supermarkets close fish counters causing slump during traditional Easter boom period

Swallows and swifts on their annual flight from Africa to Europe have been found dead across GreeceThousands of swallows and swifts migrating from Africa to Europe have been left dead by high winds battering Greece, bird watchers say.The birds have been found in the streets of Athens, on apartment balconies in the capital, in the north, on Aegean islands and around a lake close to the seaport of Nauplia in the Peloponnese. Continue reading...

Study highlights importance of biodiversity as part of strategy to stop planet overheatingScientists have shown to be true what JRR Tolkien only imagined in the Lord of the Rings: giant, slow-reproducing trees play an outsized role in the growth and health of old forests.In the 1930s, the writer gave his towering trees the name Ents. Today, a paper in the journal Science says these “long-lived pioneers” contribute more than previously believed to carbon sequestration and biomass increase. Continue reading...

Exclusive: researchers found some areas outside the bounds of the Great Barrier Reef had 90% of their shallow water corals bleached this summerMore than half of the spectacular and remote coral reefs beyond the boundaries of the Great Barrier Reef suffered severe bleaching this summer, an underwater scientific expedition has found.Several reefs in the vast Coral Sea marine park known among divers for their arrays of corals, large fish and precipitous drop offs into the deep ocean suffered extreme bleaching. Continue reading...

Draft policy released by agriculture ministry cites concern over animal welfare and prevention of disease transmission as factors behind move

While carbon emissions fall as human activity decreases, in the end it will be about the politics

#BlossomWatch participants share photos of gardens, parks and streets in bloom

Populations could recover as verges are left uncut, setting what conservationists hope will be a long-term trend

Exclusive: multinationals write to G7 and G20 urging leaders to keep borders open to trade and avert global food crisis

Having not been in the saddle for 15 years, Toby Chasseaud overcomes his nerves to beat the travel shutdown

Cultural knowledge, passed from animal to animal, is key to how species adapt to change in the world around themSam Williams’ Macaw Recovery Network in Costa Rica rewilds captivity-hatched fledgling scarlet and great green macaws. But introducing young birds into a complex forest world – bereft of the cultural education normally provided by parents – is slow and risky.For 30 years or so scientists have referred to the diversity of life on Earth as “biological diversity”, or just “biodiversity”. They usually define biodiversity as operating at three levels: the diversity of genes within any particular species; the diversity of species in a given place; and the diversity of habitat types such as forests, coral reefs, and so on. But does that cover it? Not really. A fourth level has been almost entirely overlooked: cultural diversity. Continue reading...

Highly contagious virus fatal to pigs found close to German border, as illness continues to spread in ChinaAn outbreak of African swine fever (ASF) was confirmed on Monday on a farm near the village of Więckowice near Poznań in western Poland, less than 150km (93 miles) from the border with Germany.

Bacterial enzyme originally found in compost can be used to make high-quality new bottlesA mutant bacterial enzyme that breaks down plastic bottles for recycling in hours has been created by scientists.The enzyme, originally discovered in a compost heap of leaves, reduced the bottles to chemical building blocks that were then used to make high-quality new bottles. Existing recycling technologies usually produce plastic only good enough for clothing and carpets. Continue reading...

Industry says it is not trying to dodge obligations but that it is a ‘matter of survival’

Harbour seals struggle to match volume of passing ships when trying to attract a mateCruise ships are drowning out the roars of seals that are important for bagging a mate, researchers have found in the latest study to reveal the consequences of human activity on wildlife.Ships are known to produce low-frequency sounds which can overlap with calls made by marine creatures. But now researchers studying harbour seals say such noise could be taking its toll. Continue reading...

Increased contact with animals likely cause of outbreaks such as Covid-19, say experts, as conservationists call for global ban on wildlife markets

On my daily walk I can enjoy hearing a bird whose song is the definitive sound of the countrysideOur world is cribbed, confined and bound in as never before. Yet amid all the fear and horror, there is one silver lining, as we reconnect with nature on our doorstep. My Somerset garden is awash with birdsong: chiffchaffs, wrens, robins and a new arrival, the blackcap, all competing to see who can shout the loudest as spring gathers pace. Overhead, buzzards soar and ravens tumble, as delighted as I am to herald the new season.Related: Wildflower planting on farms boosts birds, from skylarks to starlings Continue reading...