Environment | The Guardian

The Indonesian port city of Balikpapan, on the island of Borneo, has declared a state of emergency after an oil spill spread along the coast, killing several people when it ignited. The leak, caused by a burst undersea pipe belonging to the state oil company Pertamina, has spread at least 16 miles (26km) and coated large swaths of the coast in thick black sludge Continue reading...

Whales, howler monkeys and signs of spring are among the pick of wildlife images from around the world Continue reading...

The huge national park in the Democratic Republic of Congo is one of the most dangerous conservation projects in the world. But thanks to the efforts of a committed force of rangers, populations of endangered species are recovering and locals say the park offers hope for the whole regionIt is dawn on the shores of Lake Edward and the sun is rising over the volcanoes on the eastern skyline. Mist lies over the still water. In the forest there are elephant, hippopotamus and buffalo. Guarding them are 26 rangers in a single fortified post.Then the silence is rudely broken. There are shouts, scattered shots, volleys from automatic weapons. Waves of attackers rush through the brush and trees. Some are close enough to hurl spears and fire arrows. Continue reading...

Official leading effort says city had 2,000 fewer visitors a day after attack, but is confident bookings will recover next yearThe official leading the recovery effort in Salisbury following the nerve agent attack has warned that the city will not be back to normal until next summer.Alistair Cunningham, the chair of the recovery coordination group, said experts were currently designing plans to decontaminate areas affected in the attack on the Skripals. He added that in the immediate aftermath the city had welcomed 2,000 fewer visitors each day. Continue reading...

Two Sustrans staff members explain how offering residents of a women’s hostel the freedom of cycling is helping to improve their mental wellbeing

Under company modelling major spill would pollute beaches and could disrupt southern right whale migrationUp to 750km of coastline was put at risk of contamination from possible oil spill by BP’s plan to drill in the Great Australian Bight, newly released documents show.Government documents released under freedom of information laws show a major oil spill in the sensitive seascape would pollute up to 750km of beaches and shoreline, according to BP’s own modelling. The company also thought drilling could disrupt migration of the endangered southern right whale. Continue reading...

Assynt, Sutherland, Highlands: The stromatolite fossils lie on the Eilean Dubh Formation, a geologic stratum often marked by coral and shell fossilsAs I climb up from the green-brown valley near Inchnadamph, the early spring countryside changes character. Snow patches appear and soon become abundant, then all seems white as the mountains’ snow-blanketed slopes merge into silver-grey clouds. On this blustery day, when sleet and rain slash across the landscape and wind snatches at all things, it’s hard to believe the Highlands were ever anything but a cold, damp, mountainous place. But the curious circular rocks embedded in the foothills are evidence that the earth beneath my feet once lay under shallow seas in a considerably warmer climate.Related: The natural wonder that holds the key to the origins of life – and warns of its destruction Continue reading...

Drones and fireworks deployed to disperse flocks that are stripping trees and annoying residents with squawking and droppingsThey come at dawn and dusk.At first they arrive by the tens, then the hundreds, some sticking to the treeline, others mustering on the oval. Continue reading...

Rivers will be lost, Indigenous communities and pastoral and tourism industries affected if not enough water is returned

‘It is not possible to short a market by giving seven years’ notice of closure,’ company says as dispute over Liddell power station flares upAGL Energy has categorically rejected arguments from the Turnbull government that it is abusing its market power, saying if it wanted to benefit commercially from the closure of the Liddell power plant it would have shuttered the facility with no warning.An AGL spokesman hit back at an accusation from the former deputy prime minister and Nationals leader Barnaby Joyce that it was “shorting” the market by hanging on to the ageing coal-fired power plant. “It is not possible to short a market by giving seven years’ notice of closure,” the spokesman said. Continue reading...

Emmanuel Macron | Butterfly Conservation | Country diary magic | Porton Down | Football fansWhy is Emmanuel Macron always described as a “centrist” in the Guardian (Strike chaos sets rail workers on collision course with Macron, 4 April)? He is hellbent on reducing employment rights and taking on the unions. He may be young and his party new on the political scene, but he is a conservative. Why not describe him as such?

Actor says he will appeal against sentence after being convicted of poaching blackbucks in 1998The Bollywood superstar Salman Khan has been sentenced to five years in jail for poaching a protected species of Indian antelope, in the latest twist to an off-screen life almost as dramatic as the epics he has starred in.A court in Rajasthan state on Thursday found Khan, one of the world’s best-paid actors, guilty of illegally hunting the two blackbucks from his car window while filming in Jodhpur in 1998. Continue reading...

Severe winter weather postpones season by at least three weeks and yield could be 20% lowerThe jersey royal season is at least three weeks late after the “beast from the east” delayed the planting of the spring crop.The potato’s short season, usually from April to mid-July, has been affected by hard frosts and almost double the 30-year average of rainfall in December and January, which growers say left the ground saturated and “undesirable for planting”. Continue reading...

How have the changing seasons affected the wildlife near you?

Now there’s a handbook for that

Highly critical study warns projections used by the organisation tasked with leading the switch to clean energy remain skewed towards oil and gas and may break climate targets of Paris agreementThe global shift from fossil fuels to renewables is being undermined by the very organisation that ought to be leading the charge, according to a scathing new critique of the International Energy Agency (IEA).Governments across the world rely on IEA projections to set energy policies, but the agency’s figures – which are influenced by the oil industry – are pushing them off track to reach the targets of the Paris climate agreement, says the report. Continue reading...

The sperm whale may be one of the most successful animals in the ocean, boasting a global distribution that survived the toll of the 20th century, when whaling factory fleets took three million great whales from the seas. Now a newly identified population in the Indian Ocean is attracting the attention of scientists, conservationists – and soon, tourists, too. How will this whale weather the new storm of attention? Underwater photographer Andrew Sutton gained special access to the gentle giants that swim around the island of Sri Lanka. Words by author Philip HoareEvery March, vast numbers of sperm whales gather in the deep waters north-west of Sri Lanka. Andrew Sutton’s photographs are vivid evidence of a little-known population – all the more surprising since sperm whales are the largest active predators on the planet with males reaching nearly 20m (65ft) in length. As natural submarines, they shut down all their organs except for their heart and brain, and using their muscular tails are able to dive for up to a mile, spending up to two hours feeding on squid. Continue reading...

Scientists find an estimated 30% drop in plastic bags on the seabed in the same timeframe as charges were introduced in European countriesA big drop in plastic bags found in the seas around Britain has been credited to the introduction of charges for plastic bags across Europe.Ireland and Denmark were the first two countries to bring in levies for plastic bags from shops in 2003, followed by slew of other European countries. England was the last UK nation to introduce one, in 2015. Continue reading...

Documents show more than half a million pounds has been spent on failed court actions against clean air campaigners in less than 12 monthsThe UK government has spent more than half a million pounds on failed legal battles against clean air campaigners, according to newly released documents that underline the cost of weak action on pollution.The figures – obtained under a freedom of information request by the Labour party – show repeated court defeats are hurting taxpayers in addition to the growing health impact of air pollution, which kills as many as 40,000 people a year. Continue reading...

Wolsingham, Weardale: swelling buds signal the hydraulic forces that have been building inside trees

Five years after the implementation of the Murray-Darling basin plan, our great river system is under stress. Follow our 3000km journey along the rivers, travelling from inland Queensland to the Murray mouth, to understand where the plan has failed those who live and work on this land Continue reading...

The Coalition’s backbench group of coal fans have a history of attacking climate scienceThere seems to be three rules for membership of the Coalition’s new backbench Monash Forum that wants taxpayer subsidies for new coal fired power stations.Firstly, you have to really love the life-giving and not-really-all-that-deadly rock from the late Permian and Carboniferous which, if they made it into a snack bar, you would totally want to eat it and then rub the bits left sticking to the wrapper all over your naked form. Continue reading...

More than five years and $9bn since the basin plan began, the Murray-Darling river system is in crisis. In a series of in-depth features and articles this week, Guardian Australia will explore what’s gone wrong

Andy Stirling and Phil Johnstone reply to criticism of their analysis of the government’s infatuation with nuclear powerThanks to Mike Clancy (Letters, 2 April) for responding to our analysis that intense UK government attachments to civil nuclear power are (to a significant – but dangerously undiscussed – extent) aimed at supporting the national industrial base underpinning nuclear submarine capabilities. He accuses us of “speculation”, yet fails to address any of the strong evidence that we cite. We show at length that UK nuclear attachments do not reflect economic performance. A host of ways to manage intermittency are routinely priced at a small fraction of the growing cost advantage of renewable energy. As a member of the UK Nuclear Industry Council (itself with a dual civil/military remit), Mr Clancy could assist much-needed factual scrutiny by addressing the points we raise. As a union leader, he might help democratic debate by explaining why his own organisation – and UK unions more generally – are so much more supportive of jobs in the nuclear than in the renewable sector.

Friends of the Earth demands the oil firm move away from fossil fuels to comply with Paris dealThe global flurry of legal campaigns against “big oil” has widened, with Royal Dutch Shell being threatened with legal action unless it steps up efforts to comply with the Paris climate agreement.Friends of the Earth Netherlands on Wednesday demanded the Anglo-Dutch company revise plans to invest only 5% in sustainable energy and 95% in greenhouse-gas emitting oil and gas. Continue reading...

Photographer Francesco Bosso travelled to Greenland to capture images of the melting icebergs, which he describes as ‘gems of nature in danger of extinction’. The results are presented in his new book, Last Diamonds Continue reading...

City of Balikpapan is struggling to deal with toxic smoke from fire that killed four fishermanThe Indonesian port city of Balikpapan, on the island of Borneo, has declared a state of emergency after a devastating oil spill spread along the coast, killing four fisherman when it ignited.The oil spill, which occurred over the weekend, has now stretched to an area of around seven square miles (18 sq km), contaminating the sea and polluting the air with thick black smoke. One protected dugong has already washed up dead on the shore. Continue reading...

Lune Estuary, Lancaster: Some oystercatchers piped the first bars of their call and then, as if a signal that dawn had broken, a curlew summoned sunriseIt was becoming light, but not light yet. Water, salt marsh, sky: these were names for things that did not exist in the dark before dawn. Then the glim of something, maybe a moon-piece, as befits the Lune, made its way in to where it was possible to look but not go. There was the cold, face-wash quiet of the air and the slight rub of dry sedge trodden on the road. There was frost, if that smells of silver. A spectral breath returned inside after exhalation, setting the mind afloat. There was a slow opening in the east and then the nets of river fog filled with gold.As shoals of light swam through the air, the river and the land floated in banded layers of colour, none of which lasted longer than a few seconds. This was a weightless landscape, at liberty and so insubstantial that any ripple could disperse any or all parts of it to drift away in different directions. As the sky blued into being, a bow of geese flew northward and a jack snipe lifted from somewhere indefinable between marsh and water, jinking bat-like out of and back into the mist. Far off, some oystercatchers piped the first bars of their call and then, as if a signal that dawn had broken, a curlew summoned sunrise, its song a weir of keening but without grief. Continue reading...

Police officers in South Australia had a close encounter with a great white shark while they were out on a routine operation checking boat registrations over the Easter break

Shark nicknamed ‘Noah’ gets between officers and fishing boat selected for random breath testA great white shark swimming in one of Australia’s most renowned shark habitats interrupted a police operation on Saturday by serenely terrifying the officers.The shark, dubbed Noah by South Australia police, glided in between a police dinghy containing two life-jacketed police officers and their intended target, a recreational fishing boat selected for a random breath test. Continue reading...

West Midlands and Wiltshire are among worst affected, while Cam and Ouse are higher than usualFlood warnings are in place across the country after the wet Easter weather caused many rivers to overflow their banks.Wide parts of the UK were affected by rain and snow over the bank holiday weekend, sparking a rise in water levels. Continue reading...

Survey says airborne mercury pollution from stations in Victoria’s Latrobe valley increased 37% in just 12 monthsAirborne mercury pollution from coal-fired power stations in Victoria’s Latrobe valley increased 37% in just 12 months, according to an annual national survey of toxic emissions.The mercury output from Loy Yang B power station alone more than doubled to 831kg in 2016-2017, an increase of 123% over five years. Continue reading...

Public comment period saw more than 100,000 messages, many condemning proposal to raise fees as high as $70The Department of the Interior said on Tuesday that it planned to revise a controversial proposal to drastically increase entrance fees at some of the most popular national parks in the country.The interior department press secretary, Heather Swift, said the Trump administration decided to rethink its proposal after Americans flooded the National Park Service (NPS) with more than 100,000 comments, many of them sharply critical of the proposed surge pricing scheme. Continue reading...

Protesters mock announcement by Cuadrilla as they start three-month protest at Lancashire siteThe first large-scale fracking in Britain has moved a step closer after an energy firm said it had completed drilling the UK’s first horizontal well at a site in Lancashire.Cuadrilla said the development was a “major milestone” towards the first shale gas exploration in the UK since 2011, when work was halted after it triggered a minor earthquake. The company said it hoped to begin fracking at its site on Preston New Road, near Blackpool, in the summer, pending government approval. Continue reading...

Even with aggressive climate policies to limit global warming, food security in some areas will be threatened

Claxton, Norfolk: The birds, wildflowers and insects burst into action; it’s what the great environmentalist Roger Deakin called ‘opening time in nature’s great saloon’At last those winter rains have ended and the sun shone here for two full days. Suddenly it is time for cock pheasants, flushed crimson with testosterone, to fight long tail-twisting battles; for wild violets to flower quietly over our meadow-lawn; for goldfinches to strip spider thread from the back wall to bind their nests; for hairy-footed summer-bees to zip among the rosemary blooms, and for buff-tailed and early bumblebee queens to truffle the green hellebore heads in a last garden before the marsh. They’re all part of that dramatic upwelling of life which Roger Deakin once called “opening time in nature’s great saloon”. Continue reading...

Defra consultation on proposals received more than 70,000 responses, 88% in favourA UK ban on ivory sales, which the government claims will be the toughest in Europe and one of the strictest in the world, is to be introduced after the proposals were overwhelmingly backed in a public consultation.The ban makes exemptions only for musical instruments containing a small percentage of ivory, some antiques, and museum objects. Continue reading...

Agency says Barack Obama’s timeline set standards ‘too high’ in move that could lead to legal showdown with CaliforniaUS environmental regulators announced on Monday they would ease emissions standards for cars and trucks, saying that a timeline put in place by Barack Obama was not appropriate and set standards “too high”.The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) said it had completed a review that would affect vehicles for model years 2022-25 but it did not provide details on new standards, which it said would be forthcoming. Current regulations from the EPA require the fleet of new vehicles to get 36 miles per gallon in real-world driving by 2025. That’s about 10 miles per gallon over the existing standard. Continue reading...

Coastal rubbish dumps dotted around Britain are at risk of erosion and nobody knows what exactly is inside themBritain’s coasts were battered in this winter’s storms. The Royal North Devon Golf Club, England’s oldest golf course, had a sizeable chunk of its eighth hole washed away during Storm Eleanor in January. Less well publicised were fears of flooding at a nearby landfill site, which was last used in 1995 and contains hospital waste and other toxic material.Related: Pollution risk from over 1,000 old UK landfill sites due to coastal erosion Continue reading...

Like anti-Adani protesters today, those who stood up at Jabiluka were attacked. It’s good to remember that people can prevailOne of Australia’s proudest land rights struggles is passing an important anniversary: it is 20 years since the establishment of the blockade camp at Jabiluka in Kakadu national park. This was the moment at which push would come to shove at one of the world’s largest high-grade uranium deposits. The industry would push, and people power would shove right back.The blockade set up a confrontation between two very different kinds of power: on the one side, the campaign was grounded in the desire for self-determination by the Mirarr traditional Aboriginal owners, particularly the formidable senior traditional owner Yvonne Margarula. They were supported by a tiny handful of experienced paid staff and backed by an international network of environment advocates, volunteer activists and researchers. Continue reading...

The base of the ice around the south pole shrank by 1,463 square kilometres between 2010 and 2016

Three-year restriction on unnamed keeper on Philip Astor’s estate after incident with baited trap

Government funding delay for £1.3bn scheme may force firm to lay off staff within weeks

There are win-win solutions to this problem.

2 April 1918 Close at hand rise a group of single upright stalks, each topped by a small green knob, the inconspicuous flowers of the moschatel or adoxaThe golden kingcups light up the stagnant ditch which through the winter has been filmed with a yellowish scum. Their roots are deep in the ancient leaf-mould and decomposing twigs and branches, a rich, black ooze; this forcing-bed has sent up a thick cushion of leaves stretching from bank to bank, and now that the handsome flowers are out the ditch is transformed. On the steep bank below the now green

Valley of Desolation, Wharfedale, Yorkshire Dales: The snow revives innocence, but it’s from this winter’s dramatic destabilisation of the polar vortex and a reminder of climate changeSpring is held in a sort of suspense. The sun’s growing confidence brings hope, but the blizzards are back again, shutting out the light, clogging the floor of Strid Wood with snow, smothering the first leaves of dog’s mercury and ramsons. Around this date in previous years I have heard drumming snipe on the moors or found breeding frogs in the ponds around here, but there will be few such mood-lifting discoveries today. Continue reading...

Doug Jones, Bernie Sanders and Chris Christie add to pressure over $50-a-night deal linked to chief executive of energy lobbying firmThe Environmental Protection Agency administrator, Scott Pruitt, is under increasing pressure over a rental arrangement he had with a leading energy sector lobbyist.Related: Veterans affairs chief David Shulkin says he was fired: 'I did not resign' Continue reading...

Bruce Kent of CND and Linda Rogers respond to Owen Jones’ article on Jeremy Corbyn and the UK’s nuclear weapons. Plus letters from Mike Clancy of Prospect, Frank Jackson and David LowryCan Owen Jones (Corbyn has to lead on nuclear weapons, 29 March) really mean that Labour party policy can’t be changed? The only argument for Trident, and any successor, is a false sense of national prestige. Can’t some major trade unions think of anything else to make than weapons of mass destruction? Far from our nuclear weapons being independent, without the regular loan of US missiles we would have nothing on which to put our warheads. They are no answer anyway to suicidal groups or to nuclear accidents. It was Robert McNamara, at the end of a life devoted to nuclear planning, who said that we were only saved by “good luck”. If we have over £205bn to spend, it makes much more sense to spend those billions on the NHS, housing and poverty at home and abroad. The 1968 NPT obliges us to work for the elimination of nuclear weapons “in good faith”. A replacement of Trident does not sound like good faith to me.

The Río Nuevo, which now stretches across 16 miles of San Luis province, is believed to be the product of deforestation, changes in farming practices and climate change. Now as its changing course threatens farmland, roads and even a city, the government is struggling to contain it Continue reading...

Supermarket estimates the change will save almost 350 tonnes of plastic every yearThe Co-op supermarket plans to switch all of its own-brand water to 50% recycled plastic bottles in a move it expects will present an “ethical dilemma” to customers.The new bottles will have a cloudier and greyer appearance than those that do not contain recycled plastic and the Co-op said it accepted that they could test shoppers’ environmentally conscious credentials. Continue reading...