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All of the methods of catching moles described in your article (The long read, 8 March) rely on the violent crushing of a sentient creature. Society wouldn’t tolerate killing a dog in this way, yet moles have a nervous system similar to dogs’ (and humans’), which strongly suggests they are capable of feeling pain and thus suffering. As the article indicates, the total cost of mole “damage” is very low but as it is part of the routine, casual cycle of killing practised by country dwellers we’re expected to accept it. All this because of a few piles of earth on a lawn.The destruction of wildlife should be prohibited unless absolutely necessary – and only after there is evidence that damage is substantial, cannot be prevented by other intervention and that the killing can be done humanely. Continue reading...

The recent killing of a rhino in a Paris zoo marks a shocking new development in this ruthless global trade but rhino experts remain optimistic that the situation can be reversedOn the black market it is reputedly worth more than its weight in gold or cocaine, and this week the lure of rhino horn brought the bloody business of poaching to a zoo near Paris. There, in the dead of night, criminals broke in, shot a white rhino called Vince three times in the head and then hacked off its eight-inch horn with a chainsaw.

The week’s top environment news stories and green events. If you are not already receiving this roundup, sign up here to get the briefing delivered to your inbox Continue reading...

A rare jaguar sighting in the US, a green toad and spring flowers are among this week’s pick of images from the natural world Continue reading...

With nothing to eat and no sign of respite, people in the Somali town of Caynabo are fighting to stave off malnutrition and disease as they survive off scrapsOn a rock-hard dust bowl of barren land outside the Somali town of Caynabo, more than a thousand people have pitched up makeshift shelters as they figure out how to survive. Searing drought has all but destroyed their pastoral lifestyle and now it threatens to kill them.They are among 6 million people here in Somalia in need of urgent food assistance to prevent a repeat of the 2011 famine that claimed a quarter of a million lives. Continue reading...

In the remote Altai mountains, cameras traps are shedding light on the secret lives of these elusive animals, enabling researchers to identify individual leopards in the first ever nationwide censusThe snow leopard is so rare and elusive that it’s commonly known as the “ghost of the mountains”. But researchers in the Altai mountains, where the borders of Russia, Mongolia, Kazakhstan and China converge, are increasingly coming face to face with this endangered animal through a growing network of camera traps.On a recent day in Sailyugem national park in Russia’s Altai Republic, rangers in ski goggles and huge parkas were retrieving footage from a high-altitude camera trap – a black box holding a dozen AA batteries, a memory card and a motion-activated lens – nestled among a cluster of dark burgundy rocks covered with orange and green lichen. Such windswept ridges are where snow leopards typically travel in search of prey such as ibex and musk deer, sneaking down from above to break the victim’s neck with one crunch of their powerful jaws. Continue reading...

Ship ran aground at Raja Ampat, one of the country’s most popular dive sites that has been likened to an underwater Amazon, reports Mongabay

People who fled after March 2011 nuclear meltdown face losing housing subsidies if they do not go back, despite radiation fearsThousands of people who fled the meltdown at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant six years ago have been told they must return to their homes or lose housing subsidies, despite lingering concerns over radiation in their former neighbourhoods.The instruction, condemned by campaigners as a violation of the evacuees’ right to live in a safe environment, will affect an estimated 27,000 people who were not living inside the mandatory evacuation zone imposed after Fukushima became the scene of the worst nuclear accident in Japanese history. Continue reading...

Cairngorms National Park We’ve tried to spot this mountain dwelling grouse in its white-feathered finery, but it’s elusiveEvery birder has a “bogey bird”, a species they have repeatedly failed to encounter. For my father and me, this bird is the winter-plumaged ptarmigan.We have made numerous visits to the Cairngorms in the hopes of seeing this mountain dwelling grouse – Lagopus mutus – in its white-feathered finery. But it has proved to be frustratingly elusive. Previous attempts have been foiled by extreme weather, from 90mph winds and whiteout conditions to horizontal rain and shrouding cloud. Continue reading...

Labor supports ban on foreign donations to political parties and associated entities but not groups ‘that are in any way involved in public campaigning’The Coalition has singled out environment groups for special attention in a new parliamentary report that recommends banning foreign donations. The report draws on testimony from the mining industry to argue some some activist groups “appear to be circumventing the system”.

Former Climate Change Authority member reveals what went on before he quit and offers a withering assessment of the PMClive Hamilton has been at the pointy end of public discourse on climate change for more than 20 years.Among lots of other things, he’s written challenging books on the science, founded a progressive thinktank and had a failed crack at being an MP for the Greens. Continue reading...

Businesses and cities are taking up the slack left by government policy, aligning environmental goals with climate scienceEach year, Investa Office Management releases its corporate sustainability report. In 2016, it announced that electricity use was down by 43% since 2004, gas use had fallen 38% over the same time, and water use had also being curtailed.This sounds impressive but how meaningful are those proclamations? And what difference do they make in the wider context? Now an international movement is urging businesses to take an evidence-based approach to their green strategies, by setting emissions reduction goals in line with climate science. The goal is to encourage the business sector to close the emissions gap left by shortfalls in country-level commitments to the Paris climate agreement. Continue reading...

Greenpeace argued that ExxonMobil, where secretary of state was CEO, would ‘directly and predictably’ benefit from approval of multibillion-dollar pipelineThe US secretary of state, Rex Tillerson, has recused himself from issues related to TransCanada Corp’s application for a permit for the Keystone XL pipeline, the state department said in a letter on Thursday to the environmental group Greenpeace.“He has not worked on that matter at the Department of State, and will play no role in the deliberations or ultimate resolution of TransCanada’s application,” said the letter from Katherine McManus, the state department’s deputy legal adviser. Continue reading...

Reef authority says findings of aerial surveys show enough to confirm another mass coral bleaching event, after last year’s dramatic death rateA mass bleaching event is taking its toll on the Great Barrier Reef for an unprecedented second year in a row, a Queensland government agency has confirmed.The Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority has declared widespread damage from an underwater heatwave after a single day of aerial surveys between Cairns and Townsville on Thursday. Continue reading...

Scott Pruitt, the new head of the US Environmental Protection Agency, gave an interview on CNBC on Thursday during which he denied carbon dioxide was a primary contributor to global warming. Pruitt also said that there is ‘tremendous disagreement’ over the extent to which human activity such as CO emissions are affecting the earth, despite widespread agreement in the scientific community

Trump adviser shocks scientists and environmental advocates with statement that negates EPA policy and ‘overwhelmingly clear’ evidence on climate changeScott Pruitt, Donald Trump’s head of the US Environmental Protection Agency, has dismissed a basic scientific understanding of climate change by denying that carbon dioxide emissions are a primary cause of global warming.Pruitt said on Thursday that he did not believe that the release of CO2, a heat-trapping gas, was pushing global temperatures upwards. Continue reading...

Parents should protect their infants by using covers on prams during the school run, particularly in the morning, according to expertsParents should use covers on their prams during the school run to protect their infants from air pollution, experts have warned.Scientists tested the pollution levels inside prams to assess the exposure of infants taken on the school run with older siblings. The researchers found that the fine particle pollution from vehicle exhausts, which is particularly harmful, was higher during the morning journey. Continue reading...

A trend towards using plastic parts in electrical and electronic goods is causing a headache for the recycling industryFlame retardants used in plastics in a wide range of electronic products is putting the health of children exposed to them at risk, according to a new report (pdf).Brominated flame-retarding chemicals have been associated with lower mental, psychomotor and IQ development, poorer attention spans and decreases in memory and processing speed, according to the peer-reviewed study by the campaign group CHEM Trust. Continue reading...

Cycling UK is raising funds to replicate nationwide a West Midlands police initiative that teaches drivers how to overtake cyclists safelyMore than 2 million Britons cycle every day, and about 6.6 million ride at least once a month. For most of these people, the cycling infrastructure will be poor and they will be on the road mixing with traffic in all its forms where close passes will sadly be the norm.According to findings from Dr Rachel Aldred’s Near Miss project, drivers overtaking cyclists too closely account for a third of threatening encounters that cyclists have with motor vehicles.

The insect’s abdomen pulsed – with a sudden flexing of its armour-like plates it was readying itself to fly, feed and pollinateWinter winds had worked their way into the sills and splits in a wooden gate. Silver birch seeds and seed cases had been blown and wedged into every gap. Many more had been whisked through the bars into the lee of the west wind only to snag in spiders’ webs, and there they hung, in the grubby threads that had become necklaces of detritus.Related: When is a wasp not a wasp? When it's a hoverfly Continue reading...

Malcolm Turnbull says he wants to take ideology out of energy but he shows every sign of another manufactured political fightIf you’ve watched the inglorious spectacle of the failure of Australian politics on climate and energy policy over the last 10 years, it’s a bit hard to look out on the wreckage without feeling sick to the stomach.

Exploration work inside the nuclear plant’s failed reactors has barely begun, with the scale of the task described as ‘almost beyond comprehension’Barely a fifth of the way into their mission, the engineers monitoring the Scorpion’s progress conceded defeat. With a remote-controlled snip of its cable, the latest robot sent into the bowels of one of Fukushima Daiichi’s damaged reactors was cut loose, its progress stalled by lumps of fuel that overheated when the nuclear plant suffered a triple meltdown six years ago this week.

Surge in October last year helped greenhouse gas emissions fall by 3.57m tonnes in December quarterA sharp drop in Australia’s greenhouse gas emissions at the end of last year came courtesy of a spike in renewable energy generation in a single month, according to a new study.Australia’s emissions fell by 3.57m tonnes in the three months to December, putting them back on track to meet quarterly commitments made in Paris after a blowout the previous quarter. Continue reading...

Australian Energy Market Operator predicts shortfalls in New South Wales, Victoria and South Australia ‘if we do nothing’The Australian Energy Market Operator has warned that Australia is facing energy shortages if governments do not carry out national planning as exports continue to dominate the country’s gas supply.The Aemo report predicts New South Wales, Victoria and South Australia will be impacted from the summer of 2018-19 and warns that the tightening of the domestic gas market will have flow-on effects to the electricity sector unless there is an increase in gas supplies and development. Continue reading...

Renewables now the cheapest source of reliable power generation in Australia, RepuTex says“Clean” coal technologies won’t be commercially viable before 2030 without government subsidy and are fundamentally out of sync with the move towards more flexible power generation, according to the energy market analysis firm RepuTex.In a new analysis released on Thursday, RepuTex argues that the rising price of gas, coupled with the falling cost of energy storage, has now made renewable energy the cheapest source of reliable power generation in Australia. Continue reading...

Chairman says cost of inaction on climate change is clear and issue shouldn’t be used to fight ‘political and ideological battles’The Climate Institute will shut its doors after 12 years of providing independent advocacy and research towards climate change solutions, citing lack of funding.Australia’s first non-government organisation focused solely on climate change has a reputation for independence but its chairman, Mark Wootton, used its closure to take a parting shot at “some in government” who have used the environment as a proxy for ideological battles. Continue reading...

Britain’s wildlife crime head says urgent security checks are needed to protect 111 rhinos in UK after attack near ParisPolice are visiting every zoo and wildlife park in the UK that houses rhinos to offer security advice after poachers shot dead a white rhinoceros and sawed off its horn at a zoo in France.

Complaint lodged with US federal court claims World Bank’s private sector lending arm is ‘knowingly profiting from the financing of murder’Peasants in Honduras have sued a branch of the World Bank over its financing of the corporation Dinant, which has vast palm oil plantations in Bajo Aguán valley in the country’s north. Lawyers for the farmers say they are seeking compensation for alleged attacks and killings, including actions by the company’s private security forces.

Around the world courts are stepping in when politicians fail to act, with South Africa’s government the latest to lose a groundbreaking climate lawsuit with judges ruling against its plans for a new coal-fired power stationThe South African government has lost the country’s first climate change lawsuit after the hight court ruled against its plans for a coal-fired power station, the latest in a rising tide of international climate litigation.Environmental NGO EarthLife Africa challenged the government’s approval of the proposed Thabametsi coal-fired power station on the grounds that it should have been preceded by an evaluation of its climate change impacts. The North Gauteng high court agreed and ordered the government to reconsider its approval, taking into account a full climate change impact assessment. Continue reading...

Cycle schemes have stagnated for 10 months, writes the former cycling commissioner. Will new cycling delegate Will Norman get London up to speed?Under its first two mayors, London became important for the whole country as a leader in cycling. But Will Norman, Sadiq Khan’s new walking and cycling commissioner, starts work with the capital’s cyclists in a gloomy mood. Not just because of the deaths of three cyclists – and two pedestrians – in a single week last month, but because of the last 10 months’ stagnation in what was previously Britain’s most active programme to promote the bike.

Regulator says it may add climate change to the list of scenarios it asks institutions to run to check economic resilienceAustralia’s financial institutions could be required to test climate-risk scenarios as international regulators continue to warn of the economic dangers posed by climate change.Geoff Summerhayes, executive board member of the Australian Prudential Regulation Authority (Apra), told a Senate committee that climate scenario testing could be added to the other common scenarios Apra requires financial institutions to face to ensure their systems are robust. Continue reading...

New polling study also shows support for financial penalties for nations that refuse to be part of Paris climate deal, as Donald Trump has threatenedThe citizens of four major European countries think the impacts of climate change such as severe floods and storms are already affecting them, according to a major new polling study.

Exclusive: Supermarket scales back ambition as official statistics show average family throws away £700 of food each yearSupermarket giant Sainsbury’s has scaled back an ambitious target to get consumers to halve their household food waste after finding it was more difficult than expected to achieve behavioural change.Sainsbury’s launched its “Waste Less, Save More” programme in 2016 – a £10m five-year plan to help customers save money by reducing their food waste. Using official statistics showing that the average UK family throws away £700 of food each year, the supermarket set a target of getting households to slash this by 50%. Continue reading...

Exclusive: Supermarket scales back ambition as official statistics show average family throws away £700 of food each yearSupermarket giant Sainsbury’s has scaled back an ambitious target to get consumers to halve their household food waste after finding it was more difficult than expected to achieve behavioural change.Sainsbury’s launched its “Waste Less, Save More” programme in 2016 – a £10m five-year plan to help customers save money by reducing their food waste. Using official statistics showing that the average UK family throws away £700 of food each year, the supermarket set a target of getting households to slash this by 50%. Continue reading...

Electricity and gas supplier blames increase, which affects 2.5 million people, on rising cost of government policiesAbout 2.5 million E.ON customers will pay an extra £97 a year on energy bills in what consumer groups have branded a “monstrous” and “crippling” blow for householders.The company’s 8.8% price rise for customers on a dual-fuel standard tariff from the end of next month is the second highest increase among several announced recently by rivals, including a 9.8% rise by npower, 7.8% by Scottish Power and 1.2% by EDF. Continue reading...

Wenlock Edge Since the 1960s the great tit population has doubled. These dapper but tough birds are becoming a global powerGreat tits will take over the world. You see my problem already – it’s the name. Unless you can disassociate from the Carry On innuendo of “tit”, this bird is always going to be a joke. It supposedly gets its name from titmouse: in Old English, tit means small and “mouse” is a corruption of māse, a bird name of Germanic origins.

Mark McGowan says he disagrees with competition watchdog that electricity bills will fall 51% if Western Power sold under LiberalsWestern Australia Labor’s aggressive campaign against the Barnett government’s planned privatisation of Western Power is on shaky ground five days out from the election after the competition tsar said it would lead to lower prices.The Labor leader, Mark McGowan, said he disagreed with the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission chairman, Rod Sims, who said electricity bills would fall if 51% of the poles and wires power utility was privatised under the Liberals. Continue reading...

Standing Rock and Cheyenne River Sioux lose argument to prevent pipe from being laid under a stretch of the Missouri river, the last piece of constructionA federal judge declined Tuesday to temporarily stop construction of the final section of the disputed Dakota Access pipeline, clearing the way for oil to flow as soon as next week.Related: Private investor divests $34.8m from firms tied to Dakota Access pipeline Continue reading...

Patrick Barkham’s remarks on garden decking and wildlife loss (Notebook, 7 March) chime with research we undertook on the changes to garden vegetation in London over an eight-year period. We found that between 1998-99 and 2006-07, 3,000 hectares of vegetation disappeared from gardens, replaced by hard standing and decking. This loss, equivalent to 2.5 Hyde Parks each year, was compounded by the loss of 1m trees from gardens. This period of change coincided with Ground Force’s time on television. Whether or not decking is now the culprit in gardens it once was, there’s evidence that artificial lawns – largely made from fossil fuels – are becoming the “new black”, again to the detriment of wildlife and the city’s ability to adapt to climate change.

Move needed to drive orderly transition to low-emissions power sources, Investor Group on Climate Change saysThe Turnbull government needs to put a price on carbon to unlock new investment in the electricity sector and drive an orderly transition to low-emissions power sources, according to the Investor Group on Climate Change.

Conflict sparked by Benghazi Defence Brigade’s capture from Libyan National Army of terminals at Sidra and Ras LanufAmbassadors to Libya from the UK, US and France have made an appeal for calm as Libya falls back into a bloody civil war with rival sides battling for control of the hugely lucrative Libyan oil terminals.

UK leads Europe for solar growth despite drop in installations after government cut subsidiesThe amount of solar power added worldwide soared by some 50% last year because of a sun rush in the US and China, new figures show.New solar photovoltaic capacity installed in 2016 reached more than 76 gigawatts, a dramatic increase on the 50GW installed the year before. China and the US led the surge, with both countries almost doubling the amount of solar they added in 2015, according to data compiled by Europe’s solar power trade body. Continue reading...

Motorists will be prohibited from driving vehicles older than 20 years on weekdays from 2019 in effort to cut emissionsBarcelona will ban cars that are older than 20 years from the roads during the week to cut traffic emissions by 30% over 15 years.The measure – a joint initiative between the city council, the Catalan government and other metropolitan bodies – will come into force on 1 January 2019 and will cover Barcelona and the 39 surrounding municipalities. Continue reading...

Tax hike on solar-installed properties to affect 821 state schools in England and Wales, research suggestsNew research suggests schools in England and Wales which have solar panels installed will be landed with a £1.8m bill because of business rate changes that have been branded ludicrous and nonsensical.More than 1,000 schools installed solar power in recent years to address climate change, educate pupils and provide a crucial new revenue stream to help squeezed budgets. Continue reading...

Toxic air, unsafe water and and lack of sanitation cause the deaths of 1.7 million under-fives every yearPollution is responsible for one in four deaths among all children under five, according to new World Health Organisation reports, with toxic air, unsafe water, and and lack of sanitation the leading causes.The reports found polluted environments cause the deaths of 1.7 million children every year, but that many of the deaths could be prevented by interventions already known to work, such as providing cleaner cooking fuels to prevent indoor air pollution. Continue reading...

Ditching dirty coal benefits environment as gas and renewables increase their share in electricity generationThe UK’s carbon dioxide emissions have fallen to their lowest level since the 19th century as coal use continues to plummet, analysis suggests.Emissions of the major greenhouse gas fell almost 6% year on year in 2016, after the use of coal for electricity more than halved to record lows, according to the Carbon Brief website, which reports on climate science and energy policy. Continue reading...

Urban planners in Lanzhou have drawn up proposals to pipe water into the chronically dry region from Siberia’s Lake Baikal.China is reportedly considering plans to build a 1,000km (620 mile) pipeline to pump water all the way from Siberia to its drought-stricken northwest.

Claxton, Norfolk Wigeon boil up from the pools and the white lines across the males’ wings flash in the grey waves of their panicI am in heaven in recent days. Buckenham marshes, across the river, is a mosaic of temporary splashes and mud-edged pools and, from the Yare’s raised bank, I can see how it’s smothered in late-winter pre-migration waders and wildfowl. All the flocking thousands are in turn the trigger for the presence of harriers and peregrines.

Main problem afflicting country’s grid is the lack of clear policy direction from Canberra, witnesses tell Senate inquirySenior executives from AGL Energy have given evidence that the main issue causing problems with reliable energy supply in South Australia is “dysfunction” in the gas market – not too many windfarms making the grid unreliable.