Environment | The Guardian

Beaver family will be released in the Forest of Dean to stop a village from flooding, with potential for further such schemes to followA valley in the Forest of Dean will echo to the sound of herbivorous munching next spring when a family of beavers are released into a fenced enclosure to stop a village from flooding, in the first ever such scheme funded by the government.The plan for the village of Lydbrook, Gloucestershire, may soon be joined by other schemes. The environment secretary, Michael Gove, has indicated that the government may support other schemes to restore the beaver four centuries after it was driven to extinction in England and Wales. Continue reading...

Major firms hiring people from corporate security firms to monitor and infiltrate political groups that object to their commercial activities

Axa will also stop insuring US oil pipelines for business and ethical reasons, taking fossil fuel divestment to new levelOne of the world’s biggest financial services companies is both dumping investments and ending insurance for controversial US oil pipelines, taking fossil fuel divestment to a new level.

Michael Gove must deliver on his promise to give ‘the environment a voice’ to ensure short-term politics do not interfere with the natural worldMichael Gove has raised the stakes for those of us determined to see a world-class environment for the UK. The environment secretary has vowed that the government will establish a “new, world-leading body to give the environment a voice and hold the powerful to account, independent of government and able to speak its mind freely”.MPs will debate this new institution during the next stages of the withdrawal bill in parliament on Tuesday and must ensure Gove’s promises are turned into legally binding commitments. Continue reading...

City to Sea campaign says we must rethink bad habits and only flush ‘three Ps: pee, paper and poo’ as study finds blockages cost UK £100m a yearBaby wipes are causing hundreds of thousands of blockages in the UK sewer system and costing the country £100m every year, according to a new report.The study from Water UK, the trade body representing all of the main water and sewerage companies in the country, found that wipes made up about 93% of the material causing the sewer blockages. Continue reading...

National Audit Office report puts Macquarie deal at low end of valuation with extra tens of millions lost from rejection of phased sale optionMinisters missed out on tens of millions extra on the sale of the Green Investment Bank (GIB) in August, according to the spending watchdog.The National Audit Office said the £1.6bn paid in cash by the Australian bank Macquarie came in at the low end of the government’s valuation. Macquarie agreed to spend a further £500m to cover the bank’s existing commitments. Continue reading...

Kittiwakes and gannets are among seabirds that have joined endangered species on IUCN red list as food stocks dwindle, says studyOverfishing and climate change are pushing some of the world’s most iconic seabirds to the brink of extinction, according to a new report.

Pulborough Brooks, West Sussex I have the reserve to myself, save for a flock of bullfinches and the geese and ducks collecting on the flooded fieldsSmall black clouds of starlings fly up from the fields and whirr for a short distance before dropping back into the long grass. Seven Canada geese call to each other as they fly past, descending onto the flooded fields to join the other geese and ducks collecting there before dusk. I cross the brooks from the river Arun, my boots sinking into the soft, smooth mud. On the patches that have remained in shadow all day, the ground is still frozen and it crunches underfoot. Dark grey cloud slowly spreads from the north-east. Continue reading...

Footage from local residents and forestry officials shows the moment an elephant attacks two vehicles in the middle of a road in southwest China’s Yunnan Province Continue reading...

Prime minister says there is a ‘moral imperative’ to help vulnerable countries as she prepares for summit in ParisTheresa May has declared that tackling climate change and reducing its effects on poorer countries is a “moral imperative”, as the Conservative party renewed its push to portray itself as environmentally friendly.Related: It’s Britain’s duty to help nations hit by climate change Continue reading...

France’s president awards millions of euros to 18 American scientists to relocate in effort to counter Donald Trump on the climate change frontEighteen climate scientists from the US and elsewhere have hit the jackpot as France’s president, Emmanuel Macron, awarded them millions of euros in grants to relocate to France for the rest of Donald Trump’s presidential term.The “Make Our Planet Great Again” grants – a nod to Trump’s “Make America Great Again” campaign slogan – are part of Macron’s efforts to counter Trump on the climate change front. Macron announced a contest for the projects in June, hours after Trump declared he would withdraw the US from the Paris climate accord. Continue reading...

Community groups accuse PNG government of keeping documents for its approval under wrapsA controversial experimental deep-sea mine is being challenged in court by environmental groups who have accused the Papua New Guinea government of withholding key documents about its approval.Nautilus Minerals Inc, a Canada-based company primarily owned by Russian and Omani mining firms, wants to extract gold and copper deposits from 1.6km below the surface of the Bismarck Sea, using a seabed mining technique never before used in commercial operations. Continue reading...

Wind farms are key to tackling climate change but warming will significantly cut wind power across US and UK, though Australia will see winds strengthenWind farms are key to tackling climate change but warming will significantly cut the power of the wind across northern mid-latitudes, including the US, the UK and the Mediterranean, according to new research. However, some places, including eastern Australia, will see winds pick up.The research is the first global study to project the impact of temperature rises on wind energy and found big changes by the end of the century in many of the places hosting large numbers of turbines. Continue reading...

Coordinated social media strategy saw Conservatives post preprepared graphics about the government’s environmental policiesAfter a number of viral headlines last month incorrectly claimed that Tory MPs had voted that animals weren’t sentient and don’t feel pain, Conservative MPs wanted social media users to be left in no doubt where they stood on marine conservation issues.As the final episode of the BBC’s Blue Planet II finished on Sunday evening, MP after MP went on Twitter to push the government’s environmental policies, with a string of preprepared, Conservative-branded graphics. Continue reading...

Climate change is at the heart of Labour’s industrial strategy, which means investing in green tech and renewable energy, and divesting from fossil fuelsThe climate crisis is the most significant issue facing humanity. Natural disasters are already displacing entire communities. More intense droughts are leading to unprecedented levels of food insecurity and hunger across the globe. This summer saw hurricanes, floods and fires affect hundreds of millions of people from India to Niger, Haiti to Houston. The UK is also vulnerable to climate impacts, with more destructive storms, prolonged floods, and heatwaves becoming the norm.Our climate reality is increasingly unpredictable and daunting. However, it is also opening the space to collectively reimagine a different future for the UK. Fossil fuels helped ignite the first industrial revolution, but we now know that their continued use will threaten our very existence. Within the UK we have the skills, ingenuity and people to drive the next energy revolution, powered by renewables. For us to make this change a success, our politics must have environmental sustainability and social justice at its core. Continue reading...

‘Sin taxes’ to reverse the rapid global growth in meat eating are likely in five to 10 years, according to a report for investors managing over $4tn“Sin taxes” on meat to reduce its huge impact on climate change and human health look inevitable, according to analysts for investors managing more than $4tn of assets.

Residents near the world’s fourth largest hydroelectric power plant say the Belo Monte dam has made their houses prone to floods of waste waterA line on the wall of Carlos Alves Moraes’ house shows the highwater mark of the flood which hit his neighbourhood in August. Houses near the lagoon are built on stilts to protect against seasonal rains, but now, because of the dam, they are prone to flooding throughout the year, he says.“We spent 17 days in August living here with our feet under water,” he says.

California is burning in December. Climate scientists predicted global warming will make Christmas wildfires more commonplace.

Air pollution, an ageing population and smoking causing crisis in A&E departments, says British Lung Foundation reportHospitals need to provide more beds in the winter months to deal with the rising numbers of adults and children who struggle to breathe, according to a report that warns this is a major cause of the crisis in accident and emergency departments.The report from the British Lung Foundation says more and more people are ending up in an already hard-pressed A&Es because of the increase in breathing problems caused by air pollution, an ageing population and the long-term effects of heavy smoking. Continue reading...

Members of the tiny Japanese community, which was vilified in the 2009 documentary, speak to the Guardian about fishing and their way of lifeTaiji is still in darkness when a dozen men gather at the quayside and warm themselves over a brazier. While the rest of the town sleeps, they sip from cans of hot coffee, smoke cigarettes and talk in hushed tones.As soon as the sun edges above the peninsula, they take to their boats, steering out to sea in formation in search of their prey: the dolphin.

As the result of the bird of the year poll is made public, Taronga keepers Brendan Host, Lille Madden, Ashleigh Page, Mark Domenici, Leanne Golebiowski and Michael Shiels select their favourites Continue reading...

Fishing nets and lack of food blamed for pushing number of the world’s most endangered marine animal to just 450Officials with the US federal government say it is time to consider the possibility that endangered right whales could become extinct unless new steps are taken to protect them.North Atlantic right whales are among the rarest marine mammals in the world, and they have endured a deadly year. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration has said there are only about 450 of the whales left and 17 of them have died so far in 2017. Continue reading...

The white ibis provoked strong feelings on Twitter throughout the three-week campaign, and the result was never going to please everyoneThe three-week campaign to select Australia’s bird of the year has been bitterly fought out on social media, and Monday’s result provoked another round of celebration and recriminations.Swooping in with an incredible 19,926 votes, of a total of almost 150,000, the Australian magpie took the title, having quietly gained ground over the white ibis (19,083), which had a commanding early lead. Continue reading...

Eco-friendly policies place country second to Germany but England lags far behind other countries according to new researchWales ranks second in the world for recycling household waste but England lags far behind other European countries, according to new research.Policies brought in by the Welsh government and a target to be zero waste by 2050 have driven the country up the league table to come in just under Germany. With recycling rates of 63.8% for municipal solid waste, which includes household plastic and other packaging, Wales is set to become the world leader for recycling by next year, according to a report from the environmental analysts Eunomia. Continue reading...

Top three birds all backed by more than 10,000 votes in Guardian Australia and BirdLife Australia poll that attracted 150,000 votes

Australian magpie pips the ibis and laughing kookaburra in the Guardian Australia/BirdLife Australia poll after weeks of controversy, a powerful owl voting hack and a strong #teambinchicken social media push11.28pm GMTThere is a magpie carolling outside my window, calling time on our live coverage of the 2017 Australian bird of the year vote. Thank you so much for your enthusiastic campaigning for our avian friends. We really do have an astonishing variety of birds in Australia and we should celebrate them more often.I will leave you with some soothing words from Dr John Martin for the ibis lobby, who are still smarting from their shock loss this morning.Their colonisation of urban areas, and associated shift to a fast-food diet, is a remarkable example of their adaptability …Truly, if you asked anyone a month ago if the Australian white ibis would come second in a popular vote as the bird of the year I struggle to imagine even one person seriously predicting this result. I would have said it was unlikely to place in the top 50. This is a stunning result.Related: The mighty ibis did not win Australian bird of the year but it's still a winner | John Martin11.20pm GMTMore scenes from behind the scenes of the bird of the year vote. Continue reading...

They’re feared for their fierce protection of sovereignty and dive-bombing trespassers, but all is forgiven listening to a pair of magpies warbling in a gumtree

It fell short of victory by a few hundred votes. For a bin chicken, that’s something to celebrateWhat happened? Am I missing something, do people actually “like” ibis? I know they didn’t win, but hell, they came second – that’s a win for the bin chicken, surely?!I like ibis, and I’ve occasionally met people who admit to liking ibis, but overwhelmingly I hear and read comments from people expressing that they do not like ibis. Despite this, the Australian white ibis has become an icon – to individuals, music, documentaries and government. It’s revered by our modern society like its cousin the Sacred Ibis was in ancient Egypt as the god Thoth. Of course, in this instance my interpretation of the word “revered” includes being the butt of many, many jokes and even more memes. Continue reading...

As more of us shop online, more vans make more deliveries, with competing delivery companies duplicating journeys and causing even more pollutionVans, up by 71% since 1996, are the fastest growing vehicle type in UK. They are nearly all diesel-powered and share the same nitrogen dioxide exhaust problems as diesel cars.In 2015, 73% of UK adults did Christmas shopping online and 88% of these used home deliveries, causing concerns about traffic pollution. Continue reading...

So how did your feathered favourite fare? Meet the winners of the 2017 Guardian Australia/BirdLife Australia bird of the year poll. After weeks of controversy, argument over the voting system and at least one hack, the results are in. There's been plenty of colour but here's the result in black and white … Continue reading...

A process to review air pollution standards for two toxins began two years ago but consultations are only just startingAustralians are being placed at risk by stalled government action on two dangerous pollutants mainly emitted by coal-fired power stations, environmental experts have warned.Air pollution places a significant burden on the health of Australians, causing 3,000 deaths each year and a mortality cost of between $11bn and $24bn, according to the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare. Continue reading...

Exclusive: Renewable energy and proper climate policy are key to dropping emissions, carbon consultancy chief saysAustralia’s emissions over the past year were the highest on record, when relatively unreliable emissions from land use are excluded, according to estimates by the carbon consultancy NDEVR Environmental.Greenhouse gas emissions continued to rise in recent quarters, with the most recent the second highest for any quarter since 2011, despite electricity emissions being driven down by wind generation. Continue reading...

Exclusive: environmental groups call on government to freeze land-clearing permits and enforce stricter controlsAustralia’s deforestation and land-clearing crisis is spreading from the east coast to the Northern Territory, where land targeted for clearing has increased nearly tenfold in just a few years, with applications approved for enormous amounts of clearing in the past two years.Vast tracts of land are set to be stripped of native vegetation, with the trees burned, and regrowth controlled with toxic chemicals, in the jurisdiction with limited environmental oversight. On one station alone, an area about one-fifth the size of the ACT is planned to be cleared, most of it intended to allow more cattle to be run. Continue reading...

Do you keep it real or try and fake it? When it comes to Christmas trees try and find an organic one and, if possible, a living one so you can dust off the tinsel and keep it going for next yearThis year I’m going real. Given the plastic pandemic, my goodwill doesn’t extend to manufacturers of oil-based fake trees shipped across the globe.From an ecological point of view, all cut trees are imperfect. Three-quarters of the trees put up this Christmas in the UK will be grown here (this at least cuts down on tree miles). But these trees are raised on plantations that are as quick growing as possible. They are not carefully calibrated forests for the benefit of the future. Continue reading...

Birds that were once rare visitors to Britain are becoming a regular sight in England, but in Scotland, Arctic species are likely to vanishEven though almost half a century has passed, I can still recall in vivid detail the events of a hot, sunny afternoon in August 1970. My mother and I were visiting Brownsea Island, off the Dorset coast. We entered a dark hide, opened the window and looked out across the lagoon. And there – shining like a beacon – was a Persil-white apparition: my first little egret.Back then, this ghostly member of the heron family was a very rare visitor to Britain. Nowadays, little egrets are so numerous that we hardly give them a second glance. On my local patch, the Avalon Marshes in the heart of Somerset, I have seen up to 60 in a single feeding flock. And, according to the magazine British Birds, there are now more than 1,000 breeding pairs, as far north as the Scottish border. Continue reading...

Video filmed in the Canadian Arctic provides graphic evidence of the impact of climate change on polar bears in the region, showing an emaciated animal scrounging for food on ice-free land. The footage was recorded by the conservation group Sea Legacy during a late summer expedition in Baffin Island. 'My entire Sea Legacy team was pushing through their tears and emotions while documenting this dying polar bear,' the photographer Paul Nicklen wrote on social media.'Soul-crushing' video of starving polar bear exposes climate crisis, experts say Continue reading...

The Chevin, Otley, West Yorkshire In the waning light the massed black-headed gulls move like a cloud of incenseThe light that drenches the far side of Wharfedale has the translucence of burning coal, burnishing fields with the illusion of deep warmth. But it presages the onset of a bitterly cold night; the meagre heat of the winter sun is lost as my surroundings, the Danefield woods on the Chevin escarpment, are plunged into dusk.My run has been prolonged by enthusiasm. Now I feel as exposed as a North Sea swimmer, the heat of my body’s movement the only thing that fends off the searing cold. Arriving with an Arctic air mass, a stinging wind sweeps from the north, is lifted up by the escarpment, and slices straight through my woefully inadequate clothing. The light on the opposite side of the valley deepens into an orange tauntingly redolent of a late summer evening, but pausing to admire it for too long would genuinely tempt hypothermia. I swerve around people swaddled in down jackets, get my feet tangled around dogs, and generally plough onwards. Continue reading...

Footage from Canada’s Arctic shows emaciated animal seeking food in scene that left researchers ‘pushing through their tears’Video footage captured in Canada’s Arctic has offered a devastating look at the impact climate change is having on polar bears in the region, showing an emaciated bear clinging to life as it scrounged for food on iceless land. Continue reading...

Michael Shiels, supervisor of the bird department at Taronga zoo says birds are an integral part of Australian life.Shiels is unable to give a single answer to Guardian Australia's bird of the year poll, but believes all Australians love birds, even if they don't know it. The poll closes today at midnight• Share your best – or most underwhelming – Australian bird pictures Continue reading...

It’s maligned in Australia but if some simple rules are observed, bird feeding is a great way to connect with the wild world

We’d like to see your best – or indeed most underwhelming – bird images of the year, whether or not the subject features on our shortlist

Nicky Smith and Simon Cavill take issue with an earlier letter to the GuardianTim Evans (Letters, 7 December) has put a bee in my bonnet, saying that the British Beekeepers Association (BBKA) frowns on the pioneering spirit of beekeepers. What unfair words!I help the BBKA run a scheme called Adopt a Beehive, for members of the public to learn about beekeeping and support honeybees. They can adopt a beehive from one of 10 regions in the UK, each with a BBKA beekeeper who reports on the progress of their bees and beekeeping activity. Anyone who has adopted a beehive from the north-west will be following in the beekeeping lives of Janet and Fred. Fred, with the Lune Valley Community Beekeepers, is a pioneer of the long hive and the DZ hive, and also a prolific planter of Pollinator Patches across the north-west. Continue reading...

Passionate advocate for some of the world’s least-known creatures and for new approaches to wildlife conservationTony Whitten, who has died aged 64 in a cycling accident, was an inspirational figure in global conservation circles thanks to his collaboration with religious groups and his passionate advocacy for some of the world’s least-known creatures. Like the snails, beetles and mites that he championed, Whitten was never a household name, but his influence as a mentor and explorer – particularly in the caves and rocky environments of Asia – was such that 11 species have been named after him. He was also instrumental in the first fatwa declared against the illegal wildlife trade.At the time of his death, he was senior adviser at Flora & Fauna International, one of the world’s oldest conservation organisations, and had recently established a specialist group on karst habitats – the crags, caves, sinkholes and disappearing streams formed by the dissolution of limestone and other soluble rocks – for the International Union for Conservation of Nature. Continue reading...

Amazon river dolphins, a foraging raccoon and a snow-covered swan lake are among this week’s pick of images from the natural world Continue reading...

Government announces review that will examine whether emergency responders should be required to take air samplesThe government has launched a review of the emergency response to the mysterious chemical haze on Sussex beaches that caused 150 people to seek hospital treatment in August.It follows criticism by MPs and victims over the failure of investigators to identify the source of the haze, which occurred at Birling Gap and Beachy Head on 27 August. Some of those affected, who reported breathing problems for weeks afterwards, said the incident exposed a lack of preparedness and potential vulnerability to more dangerous gas leaks or chemical attacks. Continue reading...

Affordable housing has been lost to the California wildfires, leaving poor people without homes – and without hope of help from federal governmentAn unbearable amount of Ventura county in southern California, where I was born and raised, is simply gone. And as I hear about site after site from my childhood simply disappearing into scorched earth, I am realizing that climate change is not only erasing the present, it is also destroying the physical touchstones to my own past.Related: Wildfire rages in southern California – in pictures Continue reading...

Expansion of budget ski resort Bansko into Pirin national park will be disastrous for centuries-old forests home to brown bears and wolvesA budget ski resort expansion is poised to carve 333km of new slopes and 113km of ski lifts through a Unesco world heritage site of “outstanding universal value”, according to documents obtained by WWF in a lawsuit.The 400sq km Pirin national park in Bulgaria is one of Europe’s best preserved homes for large mammals such as brown bears and wolves, which roam its glacial lakes, alpine meadows and dense forest. Continue reading...

The National Forest has not only transformed an industrial landscape, it has given people a new sense of belonging and wellbeing, created jobs and boosted wildlife – benefits that could be replicated across the countryFormer miner Graham Knight puts his cup of tea down on the cafe table and looks out through the large glass windows. Trees frame every view; a small herd of cows meander through a copse of silver birch towards a distance lake. Continue reading...

Air pollution and climate change policies are pushing coal-fired electricity stations to the brink, says a new report. Closing them would avoid €22bn in losses by 2030More than half of the European Union’s 619 coal-fired power stations are losing money, according to a new report. As a result, the industry’s slow plans for shutdowns will lead to €22bn in losses by 2030 if the EU fulfils its pledge to tackle climate change, the report warns.