Threat is not a possible future one but one endangering Australia now, parliament toldSign up to receive the top stories in Australia every day at noon Climate change is a “current and existential national security risk” to Australia, a Senate inquiry has told parliament, one that could inflame regional conflicts over food, water and land, and even imperil life on Earth.The Senate committee inquiry into the implications of climate change for Australia’s national security recommended an increase in foreign aid to be dedicated to climate change mitigation and adaptation in the region, as well as a government white paper on climate security, Department of Defence emissions targets and a dedicated climate security post within the Department of Home Affairs. Continue reading...

UK demand for fruit increased by 27% last year alone, prompting accusations that growers are illegally diverting rivers and leaving locals without waterBritish supermarkets are selling thousands of tonnes of avocados produced in a Chilean region where villagers claim vast amounts of water are being diverted, resulting in a drought.

Cash-strapped Five Star Movement-led authority is struggling to maintain cityAuthorities in Rome are considering using sheep and other animals to tackle overgrown grass in the city’s parks.In a video posted on Facebook, a city environment official, Pinuccia Montanari, said Rome’s Five Star Movement mayor, Virginia Raggi, backed the idea. Continue reading...

‘Exploratory drilling will be as easy as building a garden wall or conservatory’ – GreenpeaceFracking opponents have reacted with anger after ministers unveiled measures to help projects through the planning system, which campaigners said would make drilling a shale well as easy as building a conservatory.Shale gas explorers will be able to drill test sites without applying for planning permission and fracking sites could be classed as nationally significant infrastructure, meaning approval would come at a national rather than local level.

European court of justice can impose multimillion euro fines if the UK and five other countries do not address the problemThe UK and five other nations have been referred to Europe’s highest court for failing to tackle illegal levels of air pollution.The European court of justice (ECJ) has the power to impose multimillion euro fines if the countries do not address the problem swiftly. The nations - the UK, France, Germany, Hungary, Italy and Romania - had been given a final warning by the European commission in January. Toxic air results in more than 400,000 early deaths across Europe each year.

Attempts to put out a huge blaze in Htein Bin rubbish dump have left experts asking why basic safeguards and control measures were not employedA pale haze still lingers over Yangon’s Hlaingthaya Township, where the sprawling Htein Bin landfill burned for 14 days. For many residents of the township – one of Myanmar’s poorest and most populous – life continues as usual: mothers feed their babies in small huts on the fringes of the dump; packs of dogs roam the plastic wasteland, searching for something edible among the soft-drink bottles.Hlaingthaya residents say the dump catches fire most years, but the blazes have never been this big or lasted so long. More than two dozen people were hospitalised for smoke inhalation and injuries linked to the fire between 20 April, when it broke out, and 3 May, when authorities finally declared the situation under control. Continue reading...

Magpies know meanings of different noisy miner calls and are able to eavesdrop to find out if predators are nearby• Sign up to receive the top stories in Australia every day at noon

Photographer Klaus Thymann has been exploring the underwater cave system of the Yucatán peninsula, diving 1km underwater to where salt and freshwater meet. By mapping areas that have been untouched by modern civilisation, he hopes to raise awareness of the natural and human heritage of this unique ecosystem that will hopefully result in greater protection. He talks to Eric Hilaire about making his journey into a film, Flows, featuring music by Radiohead’s Thom YorkeI am about to climb down a 10-metre rope ladder into a manhole-sized gap in the floor of the Mexican jungle on the Yucatán peninsula, to dive an underwater cave system, exploring paths where no one has ever been in modern history.You may be familiar with cenotes, or sink holes, the beautiful wells filled with tempting blue water, but this hole does not look like that. Why would anyone want to head down there is a good question but we are exploring places where no one has been since the Mayans. This place doesn’t exist on any maps. My objective is to explore places with the view to bringing about environmental awareness, hopefully resulting in protection. Continue reading...

Romaldkirk, Teesdale: Lithe and lethal, the stoat emerged into a patch of bare ground, sniffed the air, then vanished into a dense patch of wild garlicThe warm weather arrived, and with it willow warblers. Soon their song would merge into the background sounds of summer but this was the first of the year, so we stopped to listen.The warbler was delivering its liquid cadences, exultant, then dying away to a subdued ending, from a hawthorn on the embankment of the disused railway line that now forms part of the Tees Railway Path. Its perch, just a bare twig a week ago, was rapidly coming into leaf. The ground at the bottom of the slope was clothed in lush new growth of meadowsweet, nettles, thistles and ground elder foliage, a knee-high mosaic of leaf shapes. Continue reading...

Retailer will give fresh produce to community groups two hours before stores closeThe Co-op is to end “last-minute” sales of fresh produce to reduce the volume of edible food going to waste in its stores every day.Two hours before closing time, the national supermarket chain will remove items with a use by or best before date for that day, so they can be donated to thousands of charities and small community groups in time for them to be frozen or turned into meals. Continue reading...

600 people already left homeless after heavy floods at hydroelectric dam project, with another wave of flooding fearedTens of thousands of people have been ordered to evacuate their homes in western Colombia after heavy floods at Colombia’s largest hydroelectric dam project, which had already displaced hundreds over the weekend. Continue reading...

CFCs have been outlawed for years but researchers have detected new production somewhere in east AsiaA sharp and mysterious rise in emissions of a key ozone-destroying chemical has been detected by scientists, despite its production being banned around the world.

Freshwater supplies have already seriously declined in 19 global hotspots – from China to the Caspian Sea – due to overuse, groundbreaking study showsWater shortages are likely to be the key environmental challenge of this century, scientists from Nasa have warned, as new data has revealed a drying-out of swaths of the globe between the tropics and the high latitudes, with 19 hotspots where water depletion has been dramatic.Areas in northern and eastern India, the Middle East, California and Australia are among the hotspots where overuse of water resources has caused a serious decline in the availability of freshwater that is already causing problems. Without strong action by governments to preserve water the situation in these areas is likely to worsen. Continue reading...

Royal looking forward to Harry and Meghan’s wedding but opts to discuss nettles insteadWhen Prince Charles met British fashion designers, retailers and editors on Wednesday, he succeeded in steering conversation away from wedding dresses and on to clothes made from salvaged plastics and the prospects for reviving Scottish wool production.

Winning images from the prestigious annual competition held by the Society of German Wildlife Photographers (Gesellschaft Deutscher Tierfotografen – GDT) which showcases talent from within the EU. This year’s winner is German photographer Maximilian Hornisch with his image of a golden eagle Continue reading...

Failure to put safeguards in place could disrupt flow of materials needed to fabricate nuclear fuel after BrexitBrexit deadlines have put the supply of nuclear raw material for power stations at risk, a leaked government document has suggested.The document, obtained by Sky News, shows that the UK is already missing critical deadlines to put full safeguards in place to keep the flow of components and raw material needed to fabricate nuclear fuel after Brexit. Continue reading...

Influential committee says collapse in low-carbon investment is endangering jobs and threatening climate commitmentsInvestment in the UK’s low-carbon economy has fallen dramatically, endangering jobs and putting in doubt the government’s commitments on climate change, an influential committee of MPs has warned.

Garrett Fisher spent much of his summer in 2015 flying over places like Yellowstone taking stunning pictures of retreating glaciersAfter hearing that the glaciers of the Rocky Mountains are rapidly vanishing, financial consultant Garrett Fisher took a novel course of action – he flew a light aircraft, built in 1949, low and alone over the mountains in order to photograph them.Fisher spent much of his summer in 2015 flying over places such as Yellowstone, Glacier National Park and Grand Teton National Park, taking stunning pictures of retreating glaciers for a new book. Continue reading...

Exclusive: Indian miner says ‘current phase’ of AECOM’s engineering and design completeThe global engineering company AECOM, the firm that had been designing Adani’s $2.2bn rail line to its Carmichael coalmine, says that it has “demobilised” and is no longer working the project with the Indian conglomerate – but Adani says it is still “100% committed to the Carmichael project”.Engineering design contracts often have several milestones at which point the design is reviewed and the project then moves to another phase. The AECOM contract was ended at such a milestone with all contracts honoured. But sources have told Guardian Australia the expectation had been that AECOM would shepherd the rail project to its conclusion.

Iceland is among the first supermarkets to introduce the new ‘trust mark’ that shows shoppers which food packaging has no hidden plastic in itA new plastic-free “trust mark” is being introduced today, allowing shoppers to see at a glance whether products use plastic in their packaging.The label will be prominently displayed on food and drink products, making it easier for consumers to choose greener alternatives. Continue reading...

Study on rats said to show that the chemical, found in Monsanto’s Roundup weedkiller, poses ‘a significant public health concern’A chemical found in the world’s most widely used weedkiller can have disrupting effects on sexual development, genes and beneficial gut bacteria at doses considered safe, according to a wide-ranging pilot study in rats.

Exclusive: AECOM spokesman says workers have ‘demobilised’ and company is no longer working on projectThe global engineering company AECOM, the firm that had been designing Adani’s $2.2bn rail line to its Carmichael coalmine, has severed its ties with the Indian conglomerate.Guardian Australia understands the company and Adani ended their association with the project design part-finished. Continue reading...

Government-commissioned report says proposed site at Sambor reach is the ‘worst possible place’ for hydropower due to impact on wildlifeA Chinese-backed plan to build Cambodia’s biggest dam could “literally kill” the Mekong river, according to a confidential assessment seen by the Guardian which says that the proposed site at Sambor is the “worst possible place” for hydropower.

News of milestone comes as MPs say policy changes have caused collapse in investment in renewablesBritain’s windfarms provided more electricity than its eight nuclear power stations in the first three months of 2018, marking the first time wind has overtaken nuclear across a quarter.The renewable energy industry hailed the milestone as a sign the UK was well on its way to an electricity system powered by cheap, domestic green energy. Continue reading...

Kit Hill and Metherell, Tamar Valley: This pear tree remains spectacular, with creamy blossom on wide-spreading branchesAt dawn, birdsong floats up from shrubby undergrowth towards the cold summit of Kit Hill. Mist lies in the lowest valleys and, like the scattered enclaves of yellow oilseed rape and plastic-covered maize plantings, appears luminous among the pale greens and blues of the expansive patchwork of fields and woods.The first cuckoo call of the season impels a brief runabout in honour of family tradition to ensure another year of liveliness – although my predecessors would have had no need to come uphill and away from the valley to hear this bird. The sound of melodeon, trombone, drum and bells echoes around the monumental mine-stack as the Cornish Wreckers dance morris in celebration of May and of “winter gone away”. Continue reading...

Japanese knotweed is said to cost UK economy £170m a year, but so far only solution is controversial glyphosate-based herbicideJapanese knotweed is a thug of a plant capable of growing a foot a week at this time of year; it spreads rapidly from underground rhizomes; erodes riverbanks, leading to flooding; smothers other plants; blocks drains and wreaks such havoc on homes and gardens that it blights property prices. It is estimated that controlling Japanese knotweed costs the UK economy about £170m each year. An entire industry has been built on trying to control the plant, using at least 15 different active control methods. There is, however, no impartial study of how effective any of these treatments are.Scientists at Swansea University recently concluded the world’s largest field trial over five years on tackling Japanese knotweed. Their depressing assessment is that eradicating the plant using weedkillers is useless, and so too are physical methods such as covering up and cutting down knotweed. Continue reading...

Whatever the WWF says, peak demand for gas-fired generation will be larger, says Steve Bolter, while Chris Underwood pours cold water on the IMechE’s hydrogen proposalThe WWF has been oversimplistic in its argument that no further gas-fired power stations are needed (Report, 14 May). The forecast increase in annual renewable electricity production is only just sufficient to balance the closure of coal-fired electricity generation and the fall in nuclear generation resulting from the retirement of many of our nuclear power stations (most of which are already working beyond their design lives). However, this does not mean more no more gas generation capacity is needed. Electricity demand varies, and renewables are intermittent. There has to be enough capacity to meet demand at all times.While pump storage systems and batteries are able to store enough energy to cope with short-term variations in demand and the availability of renewable generation, it would not be environmentally friendly, efficient or cost-effective to use such systems to store energy from summer to winter, or even to store enough to survive a long midwinter period of high pressure over the North Sea. Continue reading...

Almost all single use plastics, including coffee cups, bags and water bottles will be replaced with compostable or reusable versions by 2019The UK parliament has unveiled a package of measures to “virtually eliminate” single-use plastics from Westminster in the next year.The move will see a range of items – from coffee cups to straws, plastic bags to water bottles – removed from the parliamentary estate, to be replaced by compostable or reuseable options by 2019. Continue reading...

City Hall sources say mayor is hoping to introduce separate car-free days in each borough this year, with ‘more ambitious plans’ for 2019London is considering introducing car-free days in an attempt to tackle the city’s air pollution crisis that experts say is responsible for thousands of early deaths each year.Officials at City Hall were due to meet on Tuesday to examine how best to roll out a ban across specific areas of the capital on different days this year - with “more ambitious plans” in the pipeline for 2019. Continue reading...

Xia Boyu, 69, reaches summit after his feet were amputated in his first bid 43 years ago and losing his legs to cancerA Chinese mountaineer who lost both feet trying to summit Everest 43 years ago and then had his legs amputated due to cancer has successfully climbed the mountain on his fifth attempt.Xia Boyu on Monday reached the top of the world’s highest peak with a group of 13 others more than four decades after his first crack at it. Continue reading...

Situated in the heart of the ‘coral triangle’, this young nation boasts some of the most biodiverse waters in the world. As it emerges from years of unrest, it now faces the challenge of protecting its coasts, and the communities that rely on them, in the face of growing development Continue reading...

Government releases new acreages for offshore exploration as protesters oppose drillingThe government has released a new acreage for offshore oil and gas exploration in the Great Australian Bight that green groups says should have been kept off limits after it was cancelled by BP.The permit is one of two that BP cancelled after the company abandoned its plans for oil and gas drilling in the bight in 2016. Its remaining two permits were sold to the Norwegian oil and gas multinational Statoil. Continue reading...

Aigas, Highlands: The pine marten brought a touch of night in its sharp black muzzle and in the big silent dark-stockinged feetFor more than 90 minutes we’d sat until cold air quieted the wood and the day thinned into the long shadows of the trees. By 10.30pm we were centred in an arc of artificial lamp glow. There was just the sound of a last robin across the loch, its spindly song an analogue for the vanishing day.The silent theatricality of the moment was thus complete when the creature strolled into our vision without the merest hint of drama. Its step was sprightly, its acceptance of the lamp instantaneous. It brought a touch of night in its sharp black muzzle and in the big silent dark-stockinged feet – and every now and then it paused from eating to stare hard at its own route through the trees, reassuring itself of solitude – but otherwise we were all at ease with the mutual encounter. For 10 minutes there were no sounds but the crunch of nut and the click of camera. Continue reading...

Frozen food is the latest industry millennials have been credited with saving. But it’s too late for gum, soap and thongsFrozen food is super hot right now. According to David Palmer, an analyst at RBC Capital Markets, sales volumes have grown for the first time in five years. And millennials are largely responsible for this, spending 9% more per shopping trip for frozen foods last year than other groups, according to Reuters.So why are millennials, a supposedly foodie generation, buying so many frozen meals? Well, largely because it’s convenient. “The average millennial doesn’t have time to make a full meal with fresh meat and produce, a Euromonitor analyst explained. “More and more they’re seeing these products as viable options.” Continue reading...

Climate Council says capacity of firms to generate solar power has doubled in less than two years

Oil extraction in Alaskan wilderness area would be an ‘irresponsible business decision’, trillion-dollar investors say

Rwanda’s plastic bag ban | Sugar in recipes | School funding | Autocorrect | Tessa JowellWhile “other East African nations are considering following suit” (Nairobi feels the force of world’s most draconian plastic bag ban, 26 April), Rwanda banned plastic bags in 2008. Plastic bags can trap pools of water which host mosquitos so their ban helps fight malaria.

Max Berryman, 21, taken to hospital in Truro with injuries sustained off Land’s EndA fisherman was airlifted to hospital after being bitten on the leg by a shark landed on a boat off the Cornish coast.Crewmates of Max Berryman, 21, tended to his wounds before a coastguard helicopter winched him off the vessel and back to the mainland. Continue reading...

We asked you to tell us about the time you crossed from one side of the debate to the otherI first thought it was fake as I used to watch Fox News with my family. In 2015 I met my partner Stephen who knew that the facts of climate change couldn’t be ignored. He took it upon himself to try to convince me. We started watching documentaries on the subject on Netflix. The first documentary that caught my attention was Cowspiracy directed by Kip Andersen and Keegan Kuhn. This documentary really hit home and I even wrote an essay on it. Then came What the Health by the same directors. After we watched the movie Stephen and I turned to an all plant-based diet. We have our ups and downs on staying true to our new lifestyle change, but we always keep in mind that for every burger we don’t eat that is 660 gallons of water that we are saving for others in need. I was lucky enough that Stephen took the time and saw that if I could see the issues I would see that the facts are true.

A review of records by the Guardian reveals Douglas Domenech held meetings with Texas Public Policy Foundation, which was involved in suing the departmentAs allegations of ethics violations mount at the US Environmental Protection Agency, new evidence is raising ethics concerns about key Trump-administration appointees at the interior department.Records reviewed by the Guardian and Pacific Standard show that a high-level interior official, Douglas Domenech, held meetings with a previous employer, the Koch-linked Texas Public Policy Foundation, while it was involved in legal action against the department. Continue reading...

Local people and environmentalists have 16 working days left to stop the first spade going into the ground at a beauty spot in Co DurhamFour months after the UK government announced it was phasing out coal, campaigners are digging in to stop what they say will be the devastation of opencast mining at a beauty spot in the north-east of England.Local people and environmentalists have 16 working days left to stop the first spade going into the ground on 71 hectares of grassland, fields and woods in the Pont valley, Co Durham. Continue reading...

Hit by record droughts and rainfall and wildfires, California leads the way in tackling global warmingIn 1988 – the same year Nasa’s James Hansen warned Congress about the threats posed by human-caused global warming – water expert Peter Gleick wrote about the wet and dry extremes that it would create for California:California will get the worst of all possible worlds – more flooding in the winter, less available water in the summer. Continue reading...

16 May 1968 The planting of alien conifers and poplars is changing this superb example of primeval clay woodland out of all knowledgeNorfolk

New Forest: Janet Elizabeth Case braved treacherous sink holes and snagging briars to see these enchanting flowers 80 years agoFascinated by JEC’s account of her search for the bog bean (Menyanthes trifoliata) in a Country diary dated 5 June 1933 (I’d come across it in the slim grey selection of her diaries published posthumously in 1939), we tried last year to relive the adventure. Continue reading...

LNG was major contributor to 1.5% rise in year to December 2017, government data showsSign up to receive the top stories in Australia every day at noon Australia’s greenhouse gas emissions continue to soar, increasing for the third consecutive year according to new data published by the Department of Environment and Energy.The Turnbull government published new quarterly emissions data late on Friday which reveals Australia’s climate pollution increased by 1.5% in the year to December 2017. Continue reading...

Report suggests renewables, battery storage and flexible technologies can replace coal plantsThe UK has no need to build new large gas-fired power stations to replace the coal plants that the government has pledged to switch off by 2025, the World Wide Fund for Nature has argued.The gap can instead be filled by renewables, battery storage and flexible technologies, allowing the UK to go from “coal to clean” and skip new gas completely, according to a report by the environmental group.

Petrochemical firm Ineos founder knocks Hinduja brothers from top spot in Sunday Times Rich ListFracking and chemicals billionaire Jim Ratcliffe increased his wealth by more than £15bn last year to take the crown as Britain’s richest person, with a £21bn fortune.Ratcliffe, 65, has overtaken the Hinduja brothers, to take the Sunday Times Rich List title thanks to a huge increase in value of his petrochemical company Ineos, the UK’s biggest fracking firm. Continue reading...

A guide to flora with a hunger for flesh – and the intriguing and elaborate ways in which they get hold of itScientists at the University of Freiburg in Germany have for the first time characterised the snapping movement of this rare aquatic carnivorous plant, found in wetlands around the world. Aldrovanda vesiculosa snaps its “trap” shut 10 times faster than the much larger Venus flytrap, using a combination of hydraulics and the release of pre-stress to capture water fleas and possibly even tadpoles and small fish. Continue reading...

Conservation groups call on Coalition to honour reef budget pledge by overturning Kingvale station decision