At a high-level talking shop for the global water industry in Brazil, river defenders and community activists - who are often murdered or criminalised for trying to protect their resources - have set up an alternative forum to share their stories

Crowdfunded case claims offshore oil licences were granted illegally by the Guyanese governmentThree major oil companies preparing to drill off the shores of Guyana, where a string of discoveries have sparked a rush for crude, are being challenged by a group of citizens who say their dash for oil is illegal.Lawyers acting for the Guyanese campaigners are to lodge the latest challenge in a court in Guyana this week. They are funding the battle against oil giants Exxon Mobil, Hess Corporation and Nexen, a subsidiary of Chinese national oil, through the crowdfunding site CrowdJustice. Continue reading...

Tongass is the world’s largest intact temperate rainforest, with trees more than 1,000 years old. But a pro-logging effort could uproot themAt south-east Alaska’s last industrial-scale sawmill, wheel loaders stack debarked logs two storeys high on the frozen ground. A bumper sticker on a battered Ford in the parking lot reads “Cut Kill Dig Drill”, a mantra that many in the 49th state appreciate repeating.Viking Lumber Company employs 34 people and sustains itself primarily on old-growth trees harvested from the Tongass, the largest intact temperate rainforest in the world. Many of them have been around longer than the United States – some for 1,000 years. Continue reading...

Woman also sets off rape alarm and accuses council contractors of ‘raping the trees’A tree protester in Sheffield has been arrested for blowing a plastic trumpet and setting off a rape alarm after accusing council contractors of “raping the trees”.The 57-year-old woman was arrested on Wednesday on suspicion of causing intentional harm or distress following a complaint from a member of the public, and she received a court summons, South Yorkshire police said. Continue reading...

Tempsford, Bedfordshire: To us the entrance hole to the sett it is unfathomably small, for in our imaginations we big up the badger into a creature with the dimensions of a stripy bearOn a disused airfield where planes once lifted off on secret night missions to occupied Europe, animals roam the runways under cover of darkness. At one corner, badgers have mined a thicket of thorns with pickaxe claws and shovels for feet. Their sett is lodged among the bushes, its tunnels and chambers shored up and secured by pillars and rafters of roots. It has spread to the point where the mouth of the newest hole gapes out over the open airfield. A portal between day and night, a D-shape on its side, it slumbers in the sun, while, deep inside, curled-up animals dream of dusk, their babies still a couple of months away from emergence. The hole breathes out no sounds, no smells, nothing.The entrance hole to the sett would represent a canyon to a rabbit, but to us it is unfathomably small, for in our imaginations we big up the badger into a creature with the dimensions of a stripy bear. Continue reading...

Plans ‘woefully inadequate’, party says – but it fears replacing some protections with none at allThe Greens have signalled that they might not back a move by Labor to disallow controversial new marine park management plans proposed by the Turnbull government, calling for time to consider their position.

Conservation groups produce analysis showing protection for 35m hectares of ocean will be downgradedMore than 35m hectares of “no-take” ocean will be stripped from Australia’s marine parks if plans released by the government go ahead, according to analysis commissioned by conservation groups.The environment minister, Josh Frydenberg, released plans for 44 marine parks on Tuesday, claiming a “more balanced and scientific evidence-based approach to ocean protection”. Continue reading...

BirdLife says loopholes, exemptions, omissions and powers open to politicisation have been exploitedSome of Australia’s favourite birds are threatened with extinction and Australia’s environmental laws are failing to protect them, a new report by BirdLife Australia has found.

Farmers and others in Mildura region are warning trees could be left to wither and dieA huge expansion of irrigated crops in the Mildura region of the lower Murray is threatening to overtake the water available in the river, and has set the scene for a disaster if drought conditions return.A 16-day heatwave that hit the region this summer exposed the vulnerability of the Sunraysia and western New South Wales regions. During that time, the Murray-Darling basin’s water managers scrambled to meet demand, as the region experienced a run of days over 35C between 16 and 29 January. Continue reading...

Villagers come to the rescue after icy wings ground hundreds of migrating birdsWhat would you do if you encountered scores of distressed storks covered in ice lying in a snow-covered field? In Bulgaria, people have been taking them home.A cold snap in the north-east of the country has stranded hundreds of the migrating birds this week, covering their wings in ice and grounding them. Continue reading...

By declaring all sources of oil and gas in limestone and sandstone as ‘conventional’, writes Kathryn McWhirter, the government and oil companies are hoping the controversy over fracking will go awayThe threat that you refer to (National parks land faces new oil threat, campaigners warn, 16 March) actually looms over a great swathe of south-east England, not just national parks. And the plethora of promised wells will not be “conventional” as your article states – at least not in the scientifically accepted meaning of the word. A new, political definition of “conventional” was inserted into national minerals planning guidance in March 2014 by the then Department of Energy and Climate Change. It declared “conventional” all sources of oil and gas in limestone and sandstone. This is not true. Both limestone and sandstone, geologically speaking, can be conventional or unconventional. The scientific divide between the two pivots on permeability – how freely oil or gas can flow through the rocks. And, deep within the shale under the Weald, the thin, muddy limestone layers that are currently the target of oil companies have low permeability. They are unconventional.It is convenient for the oil industry to be able to claim its drilling to be conventional. To the public, media and planners it makes oil wells seem a more minor issue. But the industry’s plans are major. Precisely because of the low permeability of the target rocks (now muddy limestone, soon no doubt the surrounding shale), there will be a need for a great many wells. You can extract oil only by getting up close to each bit of “unconventional” rock, and dissolving it with acid or cracking it open. Stephen Sanderson, CEO of UK Oil and Gas, said of his plans for Surrey and Sussex: “This type of oil deposit very much depends on being able to drill your wells almost back to back.” Continue reading...

Such extreme weather events are now happening four times more than in 1980, according to a European science paperGlobal floods and extreme rainfall events have surged by more than 50% this decade, and are now occurring at a rate four times higher than in 1980, according to a new report.Other extreme climatological events such as storms, droughts and heatwaves have increased by more than a third this decade and are being recorded twice as frequently as in 1980, the paper by the European Academies’ Science Advisory Council (Easac) says. Continue reading...

In wake of Guardian Australia report, Penny Sharpe says regional forest agreements must include climate change as a considerationNSW Labor has demanded that climate change be on the table as part of a full scientific assessment of the state’s regional forest agreements (RFAs), which are set to expire over the next two years.Penny Sharpe, opposition environment spokeswoman, said NSW Labor would not sign off on proposed extensions because the government “knows the science underpinning the RFAs is out of date and incomplete”. Continue reading...

To mark World Water Day, NGO says accessing water is getting more difficult in world’s most environmentally stressed nations

Authors of report on bird declines say intensive farming and pesticides could turn Europe’s farmland into a desert that ultimately imperils all humansThe “catastrophic” decline in French farmland birds signals a wider biodiversity crisis in Europe which ultimately imperils all humans, leading scientists have told the Guardian.A dramatic fall in farmland birds such as skylarks, whitethroats and ortolan bunting in France was revealed by two studies this week, with the spread of neonicotinoid pesticides – and decimation of insect life – coming under particular scrutiny. Continue reading...

We want to hear from people around the world switching things off and getting involved in Earth Hour 2018

Environmental Defenders Office to urge Palaszczuk government to amend proposed lawsThe Queensland Environmental Defenders Office says proposed new land-clearing laws in the state leave significant loopholes that would allow broadscale clearing to continue unchecked.The group will on Thursday lodge a submission urging the Palaszczuk government to amend its proposed vegetation management laws. Continue reading...

PM phones Michael Gunner after lack of contact with Northern Territory contrasted with Monday’s visit to bushfire-ravaged town of TathraMalcolm Turnbull has sent his thoughts to Darwin, in a phone call to the chief minister five days after Cyclone Marcus tore through the city.The prime minister contacted the Northern Territory chief minister, Michael Gunner, on Wednesday morning, speaking for about three to four minutes. They mainly discussed the federally funded Australian defence force personnel based in Darwin helping out with the cyclone recovery. Continue reading...

California judge William Alsup put out a list of questions for a climate change ‘tutorial’ in a global warming case

The Santos project would be exempt from complete fire bans and allowed to flare gas, even in catastrophic fire weatherFirefighters with decades of experience working around the bushfire-prone Pilliga forest say Santos’s controversial Narrabri gas project will create an unacceptable fire risk to workers at the site, as well as to surrounding properties.Those firefighters, who have also opposed the project on other environmental grounds, say fires in the area can be so fast and ferocious that in some weather conditions the project site would need to be evacuated, since if a fire did start there would likely not be enough time to evacuate workers. Continue reading...

Fred Hooper says he interpreted offer as an attempt to get him to persuade Labor to support Coalition’s plan to reduce water for environmental flowsThe government offered an Indigenous group $10m in water entitlements as it tried to get its plan to reduce water for environmental flows in the Murray-Darling basin through the Senate, a senior Indigenous leader has said.Fred Hooper, who heads the Northern Murray-Darling Basin Aboriginal Nations group, said he interpreted the 11th-hour offer as an attempt to get him to persuade Labor to support the government. Continue reading...

Australia Institute says commonwealth paid far more than initial price for Condamine-Balonne river system buyback“Monty Pythonesque” is how the Australia Institute has described the federal government’s decision to pay $80m for a water buyback in the Condamine-Balonne river system in Queensland last year.The Guardian reported this month that the company selling the water to the commonwealth, Eastern Australian Agriculture, had immediately recorded a $52m gain on the sale of its water in July 2017. The company itself had valued the water rights much lower in its accounts. Continue reading...

Environment secretary says UK control of fishing waters delayed, not abandoned, by Brexit dealMichael Gove has attempted to reassure Conservatives angry about Britain conceding on fisheries during the Brexit transition by urging them to keep their “eyes on the prize”.The environment secretary said he understood the fishing industry’s grave disappointment at Theresa May’s agreement that would effectively keep the UK inside the common fisheries policy (CFP) until 2020, but without the same level of influence. However, he argued in parliament that the implementation period was a necessary step on the path to the ultimate goal. Continue reading...

Falling cost of wind and solar will unlock £20bn of investment, Aurora Energy Research saysThe UK is well on the way to a new era of subsidy-free renewable energy projects that will largely kill off prospects for new gas power stations, according to industry analysts.The falling cost of wind and solar projects combined with advances in battery storage technology will unlock about £20bn of investment in the UK between now and 2030, Aurora Energy Research said. Onshore wind and solar will both be viable without subsidies by 2025 in the UK, it added. Continue reading...

Documents reveal government plans to extend RFAs without fresh environmental or scientific reviewsFederal and state ministers have discussed legal concerns that imminent extensions to logging agreements might be invalid as they are based on old scientific assessments.Commonwealth and state concerns about the “legal and political risks” to the regional forest agreement extensions that are about to be agreed are highlighted in a collection of 10 documents – including briefing notes and “contentious issues briefs” – prepared for the New South Wales primary industries minister, Niall Blair, and the state’s lands and forestry minister, Paul Toole, and obtained by Guardian Australia. Continue reading...

The tragic death of Sudan the rhino should act as a warning of the need to act to prevent mass extinctions around the world, say conservationistsConservationists have warned that the death of the last male northern white rhinoceros in Kenya is a sign that unsustainable human activity is driving a new era of mass extinctions around the globe.

If you work in the UK fishing industry we’d like to hear what you think about the latest changes to affect fisheries

Opposition condemns Coalition plan to open more recreational and commercial fishing areasLabor says it will move to disallow new marine park management plans proposed by the Turnbull government, branding the change the “largest removal of marine area from conservation, ever, from any government in the world”.

A shoestring expedition to one of the remotest places in Sumatra has returned with stunning photos of tigers, tapirs, clouded leopards among other rare species, large and small. Will they find orangutans next?

Hopes for species rest on IVF with two females after death of Sudan, the ‘gentle giant’The last male northern white rhinoceros has died, leaving only two females with which conservationists hope to save the species from extinction.Sudan, the “gentle giant” who lived in the Ol Pejeta conservancy in Kenya, was put down on Monday after the pain from a degenerative illness became too great. He is survived by his daughter and granddaughter. Continue reading...

Plastic and cardboard packaging makes up more than a quarter of product weight in some of the UK’s best-selling chocolate eggs

Set deep in the Valley of the Sun, the lush and sprawling ‘megapolis’ has a problem – the riversJennifer Afshar and her husband, John, pushed their bikes across the grass and paused to savour the sunshine, while their two boys went to look at the duck pond. Other kids were playing soccer or doing tricks in the skate park, and families picnicked on blankets or fired up a barbecue across from the swimming pool.“We moved here from Los Angeles, to get away from the rising cost of living and the traffic,” said Jennifer. “When we saw this park, we thought they were punking us it was so good. There’s low crime, the home owners association takes great care of the grass and trees – we like it.” Continue reading...

Earth Hour campaign aims to raise awareness of the impact global warming could have on food supplies, from cod stocks to the rice and tomatoes used to make chicken tikka masala

Courts are a new front line of climate action with cases against governments and oil firms spiralling, and while victories have so far been rare the pressure for change is growing

Claxton, Norfolk: A lone blackbird offers hope of spring in the snowstorm’s Arctic silenceEven now there are several roadside heaps of it where the snowdrifts had been so high that we were entirely cut off for three days. These vestiges hardly conjure the power of that extraordinary storm, but it has been fascinating to track the whole system as a single organism. Continue reading...

22% of seagrass in Western Australia’s Shark Bay was lost after 2010-11 heatwave, causing release of up to 9m tonnes of carbonA marine heatwave in Western Australia in 2010 set off a massive “carbon bomb”, damaging the world’s largest seagrass meadow, releasing millions of tonnes of carbon that had been collected for thousands of years below the surface.Although Australia doesn’t currently count carbon released from damaged seagrass meadows in its official greenhouse gas emissions, if it did, the results mean those figures might need to be revised upwards by more than 20%.

Group of campaigners arrested after spray painting mayor’s offices as part of a series of direct action protests over of the capital’s illegal air pollutionAir pollution protesters say they are prepared to go to prison as they step up their campaign against the poisonous air that kills tens of thousands of people in the UK each year.

Agreements meant to protect forests and create a sustainable timber industry are about to expire, and both sides are preparing for new conflictFor more than 30 years Jill Redwood has fought to save the ancient old growth forests of East Gippsland in Victoria.Living alone, isolated and self-sufficient on a small rural property in the Brodribb river valley alongside the Snowy river national park, Redwood, the coordinator of the East Gippsland Environment Centre, says there have been endless attempts to silence and frighten her. She’s undaunted. Continue reading...

140m people in three regions expected to migrate before 2050 unless environment is improvedClimate change will result in a massive movement of people inside countries and across borders, creating “hotspots” where tens of millions pour into already crowded slums, according to the World Bank.More than 140 million people in just three regions of the developing world are likely to migrate within their native countries between now and 2050, the first report on the subject has found. Continue reading...

Let fossil fuel-funded think tanks make their case, then ignore itIn 2007, the US Supreme Court ruled that carbon dioxide is an air pollutant, which means that if it poses a threat to public health or welfare, the EPA must regulate it under the Clean Air Act. In 2009, the EPA completed its review of the climate science literature and correctly concluded in its Endangerment Finding that carbon pollution poses such a threat via climate change. That document is the foundation for all government climate policies, including the Obama Administration’s Clean Power Plan. Climate deniers have thus long had their sights set on revoking the Endangerment Finding.That’s a tall order, since the scientific literature is crystal clear on this question. House Republicans first tried to simply rewrite the Clean Air Act to state the greenhouse gases aren’t pollutants, but they failed to get nearly enough support to pass that legislation. Next they proposed setting up a ‘Red Team’ of climate deniers to debate the mainstream climate science ‘Blue Team.’ But Trump’s chief of staff John Kelly worried that having this prominent debate on the record would be a distraction and potentially expose the administration to litigation, so he killed the idea.

Conflict and civilisational threats likely unless action is taken to reduce the stress on rivers, lakes, aquifers, wetlands and reservoirsMore than 5 billion people could suffer water shortages by 2050 due to climate change, increased demand and polluted supplies, according to a UN report on the state of the world’s water.The comprehensive annual study warns of conflict and civilisational threats unless actions are taken to reduce the stress on rivers, lakes, aquifers, wetlands and reservoirs. Continue reading...

Aigas, Beauly, Inverness-shire They had to hurry to cache enough food before the ice took over, an underwater stash of nutritious bark kept fresh for winter snackingI think we’d almost forgotten about ice. A decade of mild winters had pressed delete in our recent memory banks, banished ice to the Winter Olympics or perhaps to nostalgia – something that happened back then. Well, this Highland winter was having none of it. It rampaged in with sharp teeth in November, bit hard and hasn’t let go. It shows no sign of doing so yet.The beavers in the Aigas loch had to hurry to cache enough food before the ice took over, an underwater stash of birch and willow logs, the nutritious bark kept fresh for winter snacking. They don’t hibernate. They still emerge in the long dark to forage where they can, labouring away at their evenly spaced breathing holes in the ice, gnawing at the rims every night to keep them open.

Wildlife managers hope taste aversion technique can help safeguard the endangered northern quollScientists are a step closer to stopping the devastating march of toxic cane toads across northern Australia, as the introduced species continues to decimate what is left of the native quoll populations.Field trials of a technique used to turn quolls off the taste of toads has yielded positive results, which were published in this month’s Austral Ecology journal.

Clothing banks are disappearing from car parks at night, costing charities in lost revenue and binsClothing recycling bins are disappearing from supermarket and council car parks across the UK, costing the charities that should benefit from them hundreds of thousands of pounds, it is claimed.According to the Textile Recycling Association, the UK’s trade association, 750 clothing banks have recently gone missing from all parts of the UK except Scotland. Some have been found, repainted with the logo of an organisation that is being investigated by the Charity Commission. Continue reading...

Alice Mabin is the photographer and author of the upcoming book The Grower. It tells the story of agriculture in Australia, a difficult industry with isolated landscapes as a backdrop. She spent more than a year visiting 400 properties, shooting enterprises including sheep, beef, dairy and truffles to show what conditions were like for families who live in rural environments and the challenges they face Continue reading...

Green Alliance says ending UK sales earlier would close climate target gap and halve oil importsMinisters have been urged to bring forward their 2040 ban on new diesel and petrol car sales by a decade, a move which an environmental thinktank said would almost halve oil imports and largely close the gap in the UK’s climate targets.The Green Alliance said a more ambitious deadline of 2030 is also needed to avoid the UK squandering its leadership on electric cars. Continue reading...

Underwater sea walls and artificial islands among projects urgently required to avoid devastation of global flooding, say scientistsScientists have outlined plans to build a series of mammoth engineering projects in Greenland and Antarctica to help slow down the disintegration of the planet’s main glaciers. The controversial proposals include underwater walls, artificial islands and huge pumping stations that would channel cold water into the bases of glaciers to stop them from melting and sliding into the sea.The researchers say the work – costing tens of billions of dollars a time – is urgently needed to prevent polar glaciers melting and raising sea levels. That would lead to major inundations of low-lying, densely populated areas, such as parts of Bangladesh, Japan and the Netherlands. Continue reading...

Waterways look cleaner but levels of new pollutants are not being monitoredBeer hasn’t been sold in steel cans for decades. The cans Keith Dopson found in Slough’s Salt Hill stream would be collectors’ items were they in good condition, but they had disintegrated into clumps of rust.“We filled seven bin bags with rubbish,” he says. “Just from the river, not the banks. Plastic bottles and cans, lots of cans. Those steel ones must have been there for ages.” Continue reading...