Environment | The Guardian

African giant pouched rats trained to alert their handlers when they find illegally trafficked wildlife productsRats could be the latest weapon deployed in the fight against endangered wildlife trafficking, according to a study of rodents trained to sniff out pangolin scales, rhino horns, elephant tusks and hardwood.Researchers trained eight African giant pouched rats to sniff out the contraband, even when it was hidden among items commonly used to hide trafficked goods, including peanuts, leaves, wigs and washing powder. Continue reading...

It may be colourful but if it gets on your clothes you have to throw them away, says biologist Dr Joe Roman, who can't get enough of the stuff, which is vital to support ocean biodiversityI first encountered whale poop 30 years ago while I was working on a right whale research project. On one of my first days on the water, in the Bay of Fundy, in eastern Canada, we came upon a feeding male right whale with mud on its head - or bonnet - a sign that it had been feeding at the bottom of the bay. It had come up to breathe and rest.Just before it dived in again, it released this enormous faecal plume. Continue reading...

Fears raised that biodiversity summit not addressing countries' failure to meet a single target to stem destruction of natural worldGovernments risk another decade of failure on biodiversity loss, due to the slow implementation of an international agreement to halt the destruction of Earth's ecosystems, experts have warned.Less than two years ago, the world reached a historic agreement at the Cop15 summit in Montreal to stop the human-caused destruction of life on our planet. The deal included targets to protect 30% of the planet for nature by the end of the decade (30x30), reform $500bn (then 410bn) of environmentally damaging subsidies, and begin restoring 30% of the planet's degraded ecosystems. Continue reading...

Rescue workers are set to comb through debris in worst hit areas like Valencia, after at least 95 people were killed in deadliest floods in a generationRescue workers in Spain continued to search for more victims after deadly floods, as questions were raised about how one of the world's most developed nations failed to respond adequately to an extreme storm.Torrential rains that began at the start of the week sparked flooding that has left at least 95 people dead, the deadliest such disaster in the western European country since 1973. Continue reading...

Unnamed victim, who lived in Malaga, died from cardiac arrests and hypothermia, and is one of more than 95 deaths

It comes as renewable sources powered 39.3% on average, the Aemo says, a record share for the September quarter

Downpours caused Spain's deadliest flooding in decades. Floodwaters surged through cities, towns and villages, trapping people in their homes, sweeping up cars in their wake and causing significant damage Continue reading...

Soldiers aid search for dozens still missing as prime minister warns extreme weather may not be overAt least 95 people have died in eastern, central and southern Spain after torrential rains triggered the country's deadliest floods in three decades, unleashing torrents of muddy water that surged through cities, towns and villages, trapping people in their homes, bringing down trees, and cutting off roads and railway lines.As the search for dozens of missing people continued, motorists were urged to stay off the roads and away from swollen rivers amid warnings that the severe weather was not over and that the number of deaths could still rise. Continue reading...

A report by BoM and CSIRO checks vital signs of Australia's climate' - and shows temperature trends will only worsen

A 2022 law gave wildland firefighters with presumptive cancer coverage', but the list of ailments left out a range of cancers affecting womenRiva Duncan was overjoyed when Congress in 2022 approved better support for federal wildland firefighters during their cancer battles. As a retired fire officer of the US Forest Service (USFS), Duncan had spent years fighting for the friends and colleagues who disproportionately fell ill.The 2022 law gave firefighters so-called presumptive cancer coverage" - meaning they were eligible for workers compensation and the process to receive federal financial support for disability and death was streamlined. Finally, she thought, firefighters wouldn't have to prove cancer and other illnesses, including lung and heart diseases, had derived from their hazardous and carcinogenic work to receive needed funds. Continue reading...

The environmental footprint of this holiday is frightening - here are ways to celebrate responsibly and still have funHalloween is just around the corner, with millions of children gearing up to put on their favorite costumes and flock to the streets for trick-or-treating. Spooky skeletons and glowing jack-o'-lanterns are adorning homes that have gone all out to celebrate a night of fright. But the truly scariest part of the holiday might just be the plastic waste left behind after the festivities end.The environmental footprint of Halloween is staggering. Continue reading...

UK among most nature-depleted countries in the world' warns environment secretary

Representatives from nearly 200 countries at the UN's Cop16 summit in Colombia have yet to break the deadlock over who pays and how muchExperts agree that the world needs $700bn (539bn) a year to restore nature - but no one knows where the money is going to come from, and anger is building about rich countries failing to pay their share.With representatives of nearly 200 countries gathered in Colombia for the UN Cop16 biodiversity summit, the question of who will fund conservation and how those funds will be distributed is a key battleground - and as negotiations push into their second week, frustration is growing at the lack of movement. Continue reading...

Orders roll in as Chinese carmaker launches Shark 6 in move that could signal electrification spreading from sedans and SUVs to large ute market

Lochaber tree, named after the ceilidh band that discovered it, now in running for European Tree of the Year contestAn ancient oak named after a ceilidh band has won the UK's tree of the year competition and will now compete in the European edition.The Skipinnish Oak in Lochaber, Scotland, was discovered by chance by members of the band of that name who were playing a nearby gig for the Native Woodland Discussion Group. Continue reading...

Charities plan to create flagship for nature recovery on 3,850-hectare portion of estate sold by Duke of Northumberland's sonThe Wildlife Trusts have bought part of the Duke of Northumberland's son's estate in the largest land sale in England for 30 years.Marketed by its estate agents as a paradise for those with a penchant for sporting pursuits, from world-class fishing on the illustrious River Coquet to pheasant and grouse shooting", Rothbury estate has now been bought by the federation of charities, which plans to restore it for nature. Continue reading...

It was my dream job. But what's the point of preserving masterpieces for a future being destroyed by fossil fuel companies?

Grants to be used to improve port infrastructure and reduce greenhouse gas emissions at 55 sites across the countryJoe Biden's administration is awarding nearly $3bn to boost climate-friendly equipment and infrastructure at ports across the country, including Baltimore, where a deadly bridge collapse killed six construction workers in March and disrupted east coast US shipping routes for months.The president timed the announcement of the grants ahead of a visit to the city's main port on Tuesday. Officials say they will improve and electrify port infrastructure at 55 sites nationwide while supporting an estimated 40,000 union jobs, reducing pollution and combating the climate crisis. Continue reading...

Department's finances were slashed during austerity and campaigners say more cuts will stall progress to meet nature and climate targetsRachel Reeves has been urged not to cut the government's environment funding in the budget as analysis shows the department's finances were slashed at twice the rate of other departments in the austerity years.Between 2009/10 and 2018/19, the environment department budget declined by 35% in monetary terms and 45% in real terms, according to Guardian analysis of annual reports from the Department for the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra), the Environment Agency and Natural England. By comparison, the average cut across government departments during the Conservative austerity programme was about 20%. During the first five years of austerity, it was the most cut department. Continue reading...

Researchers found 38,000 fewer people - 10 times number of murders - would have died if atmosphere was not clogged with greenhouse pollutantsClimate breakdown caused more than half of the 68,000 heat deaths during the scorching European summer of 2022, a study has found.Researchers from the Barcelona Institute for Global Health (ISGlobal) found 38,000 fewer people would have died from heat if humans had not clogged the atmosphere with pollutants that act like a greenhouse and bake the planet. The death toll is about 10 times greater than the number of people murdered in Europe that year. Continue reading...

If unchecked, pest species would burden health system with 650,000 more appointments and more than $2bn in costs each year, expert says

Thousands more people than expected are at the biodiversity summit in Cali, Colombia, and hotels are full - leading the city's council to press less orthodox accommodation into serviceRobert Baluku, a Ugandan delegate to the UN's biodiversity summit in Colombia, found himself between a rock and hard place when his team's accommodation was abruptly cancelled, leaving them stranded before the start of Cop16 in Cali.The city's hotels were packed to capacity with thousands of country leaders, scientists, government ministers and UN negotiators, and Baluku was left scrambling for options - until the Motel Deseos (Desires) came to the rescue. Continue reading...

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It seems reasonable to call the Coalition's policy what it primarily is: a proposal to expand fossil fuelsSome news you may not have clocked last week while the focus was on important things like a royal tour: 44 of the world's top climate scientists, including four decorated Australian professors, released an open letter warning that ocean circulation in the Atlantic is at serious risk of collapse sooner than was previously understood.They said a string of studies suggested the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, a body backed by nearly 200 countries, had greatly underestimated the possibility that the Atlantic meridional overturning circulation - or Amoc, a system of ocean currents that brings heat into the northern Atlantic west of Britain and Ireland - could in the next few decades reach a point at which its breakdown was inevitable. The cause? Rising greenhouse gas emissions. Continue reading...

Escaped blue-throated macaws, named Lily and Margot, were tracked down after numerous sightingsLondon zoo's critically endangered" missing parrots have been found 60 miles away behind afamily's garden in Cambridgeshire.The escaped birds were tracked down after numerous sightings from local residents, and were eventually found in the back garden of a family in Buckden. They flew away once more before being traced to a field and public footpath in nearby Brampton. Continue reading...

The mammals were once common across Europe but urban development has pushed them towards extinctionHedgehogs are now listed as near threatened" on the International Union for Conservation of Nature's red list after a decline in numbers of at least 30% over the past decade across much of their range.While hedgehogs were once common across Europe, and were until now listed as of least concern" on the red list, they are being pushed towards extinction by urban development, intensive farming and roads, which have fragmented their habitat. Continue reading...

Second Trump term would restore climate denialism to an Oval Office efficiently dismantling protectionsThe climate crisis may appear peripheral in the US presidential election but a victory for Donald Trump will, more than any other issue, have profound consequences for people around a rapidly heating world, experts have warned.During his push for the White House, Trump has called climate change a hoax" and one of the great scams of all time" while vowing to delete spending on clean energy, abolish insane" incentives for Americans to drive electric cars, scrap various environmental rules and unleash a drill, baby, drill" wave of new oil and gas. Continue reading...

Carbon dioxide concentration has increased by more than 10% in just two decades, reports World Meteorological OrganizationThe concentration of planet-heating pollutants clogging the atmosphere hit record levels in 2023, the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) has said.It found carbon dioxide is accumulating faster than at any time in human history, with concentrations having risen by more than 10% in just two decades. Continue reading...

The harm to babies and mothers is one of the warnings being sent to Cop29 decision-makers by leading scientistsMiscarriages, premature babies and harm to mothers caused by the climate crisis are a blind spot" in action plans, according to a report aimed at the decision-makers who will attend the Cop29 summit in November.Potential collapse of the Amazon rainforest, vital Atlantic Ocean currents and essential infrastructure in cities are also among the dangers cited by an international group of 80 leading scientists from 45 countries. The report collects the latest insights from physical and social science to inform the negotiations at the UN climate summit in Azerbaijan. Continue reading...

Australasian Centre for Corporate Responsibility alleges Santos's plan to reach net zero by 2040 is little more than a series of speculations'

Study says harmful gases linked to heart and lung disease shave nearly two years off a person's lifeGas stoves kill 40,000 Europeans each year by pumping pollutants into their lungs, a report has found, a death toll twice as high as that from car crashes.The cookers spew harmful gases linked to heart and lung disease but experts warn there is little public awareness of their dangers. On average, using a gas stove shaves nearly two years off a person's life, according to a study of households in the EU and UK. Continue reading...

As a new glamping development seeks to open in the region hammered by extreme weather, Mariposa locals are fighting backKathleen Armstrong saw the smoke curling above the tree-covered horizon and turned on her scanner with bated breath. Mariposa was on fire again. It was the Fourth of July, a high-risk time in the California mountain town near Yosemite national park that had already seen its fair share of emergency evacuations.Memories still fresh from the destructive 2022 Oak fire, Armstrong and her husband rushed to pack up their four dogs as the sky began to glow red and flames raced toward the back door. It was traumatizing," she recalled in a recent interview. It's a miracle we are still here." Continue reading...

Pledge signed by experts from nine countries reflects concerns that offsets generated from forest-related projects may not have cut emissionsCarbon offsets used by corporations around the world to lower their reportable greenhouse gas emissions are ineffectual" and hindering the energy transition", according to more than 60 leading climate change scientists.A pledge signed by scientists from nine countries, including the UK, the US and Australia, said the only path that can prevent further escalation of climate impacts" was real zero" and not net zero". Continue reading...

Researchers gain deeper understanding of bird migration in study that could have profound' implications for windfarms

The Institute for Contemporary Art in San Francisco has curated a show of alchemized' toothpaste caps, zip ties, broken computer keys and perfume spray tubesAs a young artist, Miguel Arzabe visited art shows around the US to learn from others' work. But his biggest source of inspiration were the exhibit catalogues. Fascinated by the documents, he decided to make his own work out of the books themselves.He cut the pages into thin strips and wove them into a large, intricate Andean tapestry called Last Weaving - because the strips would make a timeless and lasting work of art - completed in 2018. Continue reading...

A haul of 8,000 items from 150 shipwrecks - including the Titanic and Henry the VIII's flagship, the Mary Rose - is to be auctioned after the closure of a Cornish museumThey are some of the most evocative historic artefacts that fate ever consigned to the bottom of the sea. Now, coal from the Titanic, a piece of rope from the Mary Rose and musket flints from the shipwreck that inspired William Wordsworth to write one of his greatest works are to be sold at a very rare auction.The artefacts are among the 8,000 objects salvaged from 150 wrecks that will go under the hammer for the first time next month. Continue reading...

Destruction caused by Hurricanes Helene and Milton bring climate crisis to top of mind, especially for young votersThe climate emergency was already a hot-button political issue in Florida long before devastating back-to-back hurricanes named Helene and Milton barreled into the state in recent weeks.Ron DeSantis, the Republican governor who considers global warming leftwing stuff", angered environmental advocates by signing a bill in May scrubbing the words climate change" from state statutes and in effect committing Florida to a fossil fuel-burning future.Don't miss important US election coverage. Get our free app and sign up for election alerts Continue reading...

The Michelin-starred restaurateur has signed an open letter demanding delivery of 15m to divert produce to food banks and soup kitchensChef Tom Kerridge is teaming up with charities to demand delivery of a promised 15m fund to divert fresh but unused food from farms to food banks and soup kitchens across the country.Repeated promises have been made by former ministers to fund the food waste reduction scheme, which effectively compensates farmers for harvesting, storing and packaging the food that would otherwise head into landfill or animal feed. Continue reading...

Lovisa Sjoberg hadn't been seen for almost a fortnight when she was located on Sunday afternoon at Kiandra about 85km south-west of Canberra

Hundreds of health workers sign letter to General Medical Council calling for halt to suspensions as GP faces jail for activismHundreds of health workers have called on the General Medical Council to stop suspending doctors imprisoned for peaceful climate activism ahead of a trial which could see the first jailing of a working GP for a non-violent climate protest in the UK.Two retired GPs have been suspended by GMC-convened tribunals this year after receiving short sentences for non-violent offences during Just Stop Oil and Insulate Britain protests in 2021 and 2022. The medical regulator did not express concerns about the doctors' clinical capabilities but said their actions undermined public confidence in the profession. Continue reading...

Legions of young people are getting organised, skilling up, raising their voices and placing their bodies in the path of those who profit from our addictionNot long before the Nazis murdered him, the Lutheran pastor and resister Dietrich Bonhoeffer wrote that the ultimate test of a moral society is the kind of world it leaves to its children".That moral challenge is timeless. But with the climate emergency upon us, it has an unsettling new edge, and with that in mind, I've been preoccupied lately by the underappreciated power of solidarity. Continue reading...

Rescue workers continue to search for missing after storm brings two months' rainfall to some areas in 24 hoursThe number of dead and missing after tropical storm Trami caused extensive flooding and landslides in the Philippines has exceeded 100, as the president said many areas remained isolated.Trami blew away from the north-western Philippines on Friday, leaving at least 81 people dead and 34 others missing in one of the south-east Asian archipelago's deadliest and most destructive storms so far this year, the government's disaster response agency said. The death toll was expected to rise as reports come in from previously isolated areas. Continue reading...

Climate Change Committee advised Ed Miliband to cut level by 81% but activists want bigger promisesClimate campaigners have urged ministers to make steeper cuts in the UK's greenhouse gas emissions after the government's statutory adviser on the climate gave its verdict on new targets.The Climate Change Committee, which advises the government, has written to Ed Miliband, the energy secretary, to advise cuts of 81% in the UK's emissions, compared with 1990 levels, by 2035, if emissions from aviation and shipping are excluded. Continue reading...

Councillor has reportedly suggested using pills to control gulls, but experts say it may not be ethical or practicalTheir brazen chip-snatching, swooping and aggressive squawking has earned seagulls a reputation as the scourge of seaside towns, terrorising unsuspecting tourists and enraging residents alike.And as the marauding birds have ventured inland and established urban colonies, towns have deployed spikes, netting and even birds of prey as deterrents. Now Worcester city councillors appear to be contemplating a new escalation in the battle: bird contraceptives. Continue reading...

Shelly beach, Bronte, Coogee and Malabar among those rated poor' as swimmers urged to check water quality online

Petition to Ecuador's copyright office is first legal attempt to recognise an ecosystem's moral authorshipA forest in Ecuador could be recognised as the co-creator of a song under a groundbreaking legal proposal.A petition is to be submitted to Ecuador's copyright office to recognise the Los Cedros cloud forest as the co-creator of the composition Song of the Cedars. The action by the More Than Human Life (Moth) project is the first legal attempt to recognise an ecosystem's moral authorship of a work of art. Continue reading...

Kevin Jordan and two other claimants argued the country's climate adaptation plans were insufficient and unlawfulAn East Anglian man who lost his home to coastal erosion has lost his high court challenge against the government's climate adaptation plans.Kevin Jordan was one of three claimants who argued the government's plans for adapting to the existing and predicted impacts of climate change, known as the National Adaptation Programme 3 (NAP3), were insufficient and unlawful. Continue reading...

Researchers criticised and gaslighted after sharing fears with Guardian say acknowledging feelings is critical to their workClimate scientists who were mocked and gaslighted after speaking up about their fears for the future have said acknowledging strong emotions is vital to their work.The researchers said these feelings should not be suppressed in an attempt to reach supposed objectivity. Seeing climate experts' fears and opinions about the climate crisis as irrelevant suggests science is separate from society and ultimately weakens it, they said. Continue reading...

The best of this week's wildlife photographs from around the world Continue reading...

The Labor opposition, conservationists and Indigenous groups have expressed shock at the move