Instagram snaps of celebs such as Paris Hilton and James Rodriguez posing with orangutans and chimpanzees is endangering the survival of the great apesInstagram snaps of celebrities including Paris Hilton and James Rodriguez posing with apes in the Gulf are damaging efforts to clamp down on wildlife trafficking and endangering the survival of some species, a UN body has warned.

Parliamentary inquiry recommends groups should spend quarter of income on ‘remediation’ work to qualify for tax-deductible statusEnvironmental groups would be barred from extensive advocacy work and sanctioned if they encouraged civil disobedience, under recommendations from a federal parliamentary inquiry into the tax-deductible status of environment groups.Related: Liberal push to strip environmental groups of charitable tax status Continue reading...

Swch Cae Rhiw, Ceiriog Valley In the puddle, among the crowfoot, wriggle scores of tadpoles, dark sperm-like beingsHigh up the valley a patch of white looks as if there have been snowflakes blowing across the hills, even in bright sunshine. It turns out to be flowers on the surface of a puddle, a kind of layby to the stream running alongside the track.The white flowers are a kind of water crowfoot, one of a group of amphibious buttercups with little white star flowers and rounded, lobed, leaves above the water and feathery fronds below. The flowers look so slight, as ephemeral as spring snow, yet they must be tough as old boots to survive up here. Continue reading...

Two young aerial photographers filmed a pod of orcas off Bremer Bay on the south coast of Western Australia. Jampal Williamson said the orcas moved so fast they were difficult to film. Williamson and his friend Michael Goetze are using drones to capture different perspectives of WA for their aerial photography project, Salty Wings Continue reading...

Thousands of fishermen are protesting the government’s failure to mitigate effects of a poisonous ‘red tide’ agal bloom scientists call largest in historyThousands of Chilean fishermen have blocked roads with barricades in the region of Los Lagos, saying government efforts to mitigate the economic effects of a harmful algal bloom have been insufficient.For the last four weeks, the southern-central region of Los Lagos has been plagued by what scientists say is the biggest “red tide” in its history. Continue reading...

Transport secretary urged to commit to timetable in light of Airports Commission report backing third runwayDelaying a decision on a third runway has “squandered the opportunity” to act on evidence and expand Heathrow, a cross-party committee of MPs said as it called on the government to commit to a clear timetable.The Commons transport select committee described ministerial claims of progress in the decision-making process as “illusory” and demanded that the transport secretary, Patrick McLoughlin, make clear what the outstanding areas of contention were. Continue reading...

Samarco and its owners Vale SA and BHP Billiton sued for 155bn real ($43.5bn), an amount calculated based on cost of Deepwater Horizon oil spillFederal prosecutors in Brazil have filed a 155bn-real ($43.5bn) civil lawsuit against iron miner Samarco, and its owners Vale SA and BHP Billiton, for the collapse of a tailings dam in November that killed 19 people and polluted a major river.Related: Brazil's slow-motion environmental catastrophe unfolds Continue reading...

Las Vegas opened its first green space last month – is it further proof that Sin City is turning over a new leaf?Taking shade under a Mesquite tree shouldn’t seem exotic in the Mojave Desert. Nor should catching the aroma of sage flowers, or brushing past spiky yucca and tongue-limbed agave plants. But on the fabled Las Vegas Strip, the very notion of a park is novel.Vegas still prides itself on selling unfettered indulgence. Round-the-clock gambling, high-end nightclubs and decadent restaurants are not going away. Yet the opening of the Strip’s first green space last month is further evidence that, regarding its relationship to the environment, Sin City is turning a new leaf. Continue reading...

The mass killings in 1965 live on in global emissions from forced forest fires – and through human rights abuses in the palm oil fieldsThere has been tremendous concern over the ways climate change will affect human rights, but little attention to how human rights abuse affects our global climate.Fifty years ago, Indonesia went through a genocide. The massacres may be relatively unknown, but in a terrible way the destruction continues, and threatens us all. In 1965, the Indonesian army organised paramilitary death squads and exterminated between 500,000 and 1 million people who had hastily been identified as enemies of General Suharto’s new military dictatorship. Today, the killers and their protégés are comfortable establishment figures whose impunity, political power and capacity for intimidation endure. Continue reading...

The biggest coordinated global action against fossil fuel companies began with early morning demonstrations at the Ffos-y-fran coalmine, near Merthyr Tydfil in south Wales. Groups of environmental activists descended at the site in red boiler suits forming human chains and blocking access roads Continue reading...

Eight-year-old Mari Copeny plans ‘big hug’ for president, who asked to meet her during a visit to the Michigan city as it continues to grapple with water crisis

European commission investigating violations of the EU bird directive after Malta allows 5,000 turtle doves to be shot, says Karmenu VellaMalta should consider a temporary ban on the shooting of turtle doves which are being driven to extinction by hunting and other pressures, the EU’s environment chief has said.The International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN) put turtledoves on its Red List of species threatened with extinction for the first time last October. Continue reading...

Country should focus on nuclear power and carbon capture technologies, former chief scientific adviser said in his final interviewThe idea that renewable energy can power the UK is an “appalling delusion”, according to the final interview given by former chief scientific adviser, the late Professor Sir David MacKay.

Break free and join the biggest global action against fossil fuel companies the world has ever seenAn interesting question is, what are you waiting for?Global warming is the biggest problem we’ve ever faced as a civilisation — certainly you want to act to slow it down, but perhaps you’ve been waiting for just the right moment. Continue reading...

For when the problem seems too big and individual efforts too small, here are three organizations making a difference locally and around the worldUsing the column you’re reading now, I often advocate creating positive environmental change by taking the micro-view and focusing on personal responsibility by making changes to your buying habits, your energy use and your waste production. But you can also choose to take a wider focus by demanding industry-level change from big polluters and advocating bold shifts in government policy.Both have their drawbacks: the former can seem insignificant; the latter, insurmountable. But there is a middle ground: grassroots organization, where individuals come together to address the unique environmental challenges faced by their own communities, neighborhoods and social groups. Continue reading...

Ban Ki-moon says he will appoint Patricia Espinosa Cantellano as new chief of UNFCCC, as climate talks shift from setting goals to carrying them outA veteran Mexican diplomat has been chosen to head the United Nations’ newly upgraded climate office, UN chief Ban Ki-moon announced in a letter to France’s environment minister.

We asked you to share your April pictures of the wildlife around the world wherever you are. Here’s a selection of our favourites• You can add your May wildlife photographs here Continue reading...

May signals the last month of spring for the northern hemisphere, while the southern hemisphere edges closer to winter. We’d like to see your photos of the May wildlife near youThe northern hemisphere will be hoping for warmer weather ahead with the arrival of May. For the southern hemisphere the new month signals the last few weeks of autumn as preparations are made for the winter months ahead. So what sort of wildlife will we all discover on our doorsteps? We’d like to see your photos of the May wildlife near you.Share your photos and videos with us and we’ll feature our favourites on the Guardian site. Continue reading...

Barnaby Joyce says the loans are designed to provide a financial incentive to states to invest in water infrastructure such as dams and pipelines• Click here for full budget coverageA $2bn water infrastructure loan facility is the centrepiece of the Coalition’s regional policy, to provide concessional loans to the states and territories for projects.The deputy prime minister and agriculture minister, Barnaby Joyce, said the loans were available from 2016 for 10 years and were designed to provide a financial incentive to state governments to invest in water infrastructure such as dams and pipelines. Continue reading...

Boris Johnson has left Londoners with an urgent problem with dirty air. Whoever replaces him needs to act quickly – starting with diesel carsA year ago, ClientEarth obtained a landmark ruling from the supreme court, ordering the government to prepare plans to bring air pollution within legal limits across the country. Last week we were granted permission to take it back to court – because its new plan still isn’t nearly good enough.Air pollution across the UK continues to threaten people’s health, and children are some of the first to suffer. Research by King’s College London suggests the lung capacity of youngsters living in London has been reduced by living or going to school near main roads. These children have an increased risk of disease such as asthma and bronchitis and face the prospect of a permanent reduction in lung capacity. Continue reading...

As soya companies appropriate land in Paraguay, many small-scale campesino farmers are forced out to cities. For those who stay to fight for their land, the conflict can turn bloodyFor 14 years, Juan Aveiro broadcast Radio Mandu’arã to a cluster of communities in a remote corner of eastern Paraguay. He and his team of volunteer journalists worked from a makeshift studio painted with a mural depicting Paraguayan farmers, or campesinos, with their fists in the air, beneath a banner proclaiming “peace and justice!”Then, in November, police raided Mandu’arã’s studio. “They took everything,” Aveiro says. Continue reading...

Britain’s threatened birds including kingfishers, bitterns and Cetti warblers find a refuge in Woodberry Wetlands, once a barren wastelandThe UK’s newest nature reserve was opened in east London over the weekend by Sir David Attenborough. Overshadowed by council tower blocks and swanky high rise developments, the 11 hectare (27 acres) site which includes a reservoir that supplies water to millions of Londoners, has become home to some of Britain’s more threatened birds including kingfishers, bitterns and Cetti warblers.London Wildlife Trust has transformed the once barren wasteland into Woodberry Wetlands, with teams of dedicated volunteers planting dense reedbeds, hedgerows and wildflower meadows to attract birds, bees, butterflies and other insects. Continue reading...

The Sierra Club was pushed out of its home because of high rent. The grassroots environmental group will be fine – it’s San Francisco I worry aboutLast week, the Sierra Club left San Francisco, its home since its founding 124 years ago. Like so many individuals and institutions, it was pushed out by high rent.The Club, the US’s largest grassroots environmental organization, will be fine in its new home across the bay in Oakland; it’s San Francisco I worry about. Continue reading...

Hundreds of activists take control of vast site and bring operations to a halt as part of a coordinated global direct action against fossil fuel companiesHundreds of environmental activists have invaded the UK’s largest opencast coalmine and halted operations across the vast site.Dressed in red boiler suits, groups of protesters crossed barbed wire fences to gain access to Ffos-y-fran mine near Merthyr Tydfil in south Wales. Some chained themselves to machinery, others lay across access roads. Continue reading...

The reduction would slash greenhouse gas emissions by 100m tonnes a year by 2030 and even more after that, comparing well to other proposed measures

The treasurer says the Australian people have ‘moved on’ from analysing the budget through the prism of ‘winners and losers’. Read on if that’s not true!• Click here for full budget coverageAustralians aren’t interested in winners and losers any more. That’s what the treasurer, Scott Morrison, said during Tuesday’s pre-budget speech. “Australian people have moved on from that,” he claimed. But just in case Mr Morrison is wrong about that ... Continue reading...

The poll shows 57% support for Labor’s carbon emissions policy and 43% of voters in favour of negative gearingLabor has maintained a 52-48, two-party preferred lead in the latest Essential poll, and also received majority support for its carbon policy.Related: Labor proposes two emissions trading schemes costing $355.9m Continue reading...

Government says change will improve biodiversity but conservation groups say it means ‘disaster for nature in NSW’ and a return to broadscale clearingLand clearing regulations are set to be relaxed in NSW, as the government releases draft legislation that would allow farmers to clear native vegetation without approval in many cases, and give others access to “offsets”. It has also committed $240m over five years to pay farmers not to clear land, followed by $70m a year thereafter.The government said the changes would improve biodiversity, even though they will allow protected areas to be cleared. Continue reading...

Claxton, Norfolk To be touched by those fluttering wings is to be brushed by velvet. Yet in this way they contest anything that transgresses their boundaryNormally all the softness of the English summer is in a blackbird’s syrinx. Today, however, as the sound of the song wafts towards me across the garden, it somehow seems to congeal in these north-easterlies. It is like a dark warm spawn-filled pond of music but with ice edges. I go out and the air is cold. The new greens in the hawthorns and the oaks are cold in tone. Even the sunlight feels cold, and the blue above has clouds with an unmistakable hint of ice.Sure enough, when it rains for about 60 seconds as I reach the marsh, it falls as hail. Then it stops again. The sun beats down and it feels like the weirdest spring I can recall. Continue reading...

The 2.42-metre whale washed up on Lake Tyers beach and authorities suspect it could be rare species spotted only 17 times since records began in AustraliaA rare dwarf sperm whale that has been spotted only 17 times since records began in Australia may have washed up on a Victorian beach, local authorities have said.The 2.42-metre whale died after becoming stranded on Lake Tyers beach in Gippsland, about 330km east of Melbourne, on Saturday. Continue reading...

Australian Conservation Foundation argues emissions from coal mined from Adani’s project will put the Great Barrier Reef at risk by exacerbating climate changeA landmark case pitting the Great Barrier Reef against Adani’s proposed Carmichael coalmine begins in the federal court on Tuesday.The Australian Conservation Foundation (ACF) is arguing that environment minister Greg Hunt unlawfully approved the mine in central Queensland, which would be the largest in Australia. They will argue the emissions released when the coal from the mine is burned will put the world heritage values of the Great Barrier Reef at risk by exacerbating climate change. Continue reading...

New studies suggest that the weather in far off Greenland, one of the fastest warming parts of the Earth, is affecting the rainfall patterns in Britain. This is linked to the extremely wet summers of 2007 and 2012.Sheffield University, checking data back to 1851, found that since the 1980s there has been an increase in the number of summer high pressure blocking systems that become anchored over this vast island ice sheet. The result has been to drag warm air over Greenland causing melting on a much-increased scale. Continue reading...

Danny Price, who helped devise the Coalition’s climate policy, says Labor scheme to shut brown-coal generators would lead to higher pricesA little-noticed part of Labor’s climate policy could push up retail power prices by between 8% and 25%, economist Danny Price has claimed, with price hikes in Victoria exceeding the impact of the former Labor government’s carbon tax.

Honduras officials report arrests of two people linked to company building hydroelectric dam which Cáceres had foughtFour men have been arrested in connection with the murder of the Honduran indigenous activist Berta Cáceres, who was shot dead at her home two months ago.Two of those arrested are linked to the company building a hydroelectric dam which Cáceres had campaigned against. Continue reading...

Footage from a live web camera nest shows bald eagles serving up a cat to eaglets – but the Audubon Society determines dead cat was not preyed uponCat owners have been warned of the dangers their feline companions face when venturing outdoors after video emerged of bald eagles feasting on the body of a dead cat near Pittsburgh.

Ethiopia has confirmed its commitment to restore its degraded lands to improve food security and biodiversity. Now, it’s looking to the private sector for supportEthiopia is in the midst of the worst drought in 50 years. Famine and malnutrition have now spread to 443 of the country’s 750 districts. Earlier this month, the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), called Ethiopia’s condition “a deteriorated humanitarian situation”.Related: African forestry scheme aims to build prosperity by restoring landscape Continue reading...

Environment secretary Liz Truss appeals to supporters of other parties to vote for UK to remain in the European UnionA Conservative cabinet minister has made a direct plea to supporters of other political parties to vote in favour of Britain’s membership of the EU by warning that Brexit would be a “hugely retrograde step” for the environment.In an exclusive interview with the Guardian, the environment secretary, Liz Truss, said the referendum was too important to be dominated by internal Tory politics. Continue reading...

Half of us are reluctant to get on our feet for more than 20 minutes. Compared to the progress made on cycling, for walkers it’s been pedestrianIf you live in Britain, and you’re enjoying day three of the bank holiday weekend, you may already be dreading going back to work – not just the grind of the office or factory, but the misery of getting there. If you’re not jammed into an overcrowded, unpunctual train or bus, you’ll be struggling with jams and roadworks in your car, or trying not to be crushed by a lorry on your bike. It’s no better if you’re taking the kids to school or popping to the shops. Thanks to a combination of hypermobility and underinvestment, even the shortest journey can take you to hell and back.Related: Just like cyclists, pedestrians must find a sense of self-righteousness | Zoe Williams Continue reading...

As his #wheredovesdie trip to Malta shows, Packham uses his celebrity status to promote good causes, even if it means making a few enemiesLove him or loathe him Chris Packham is a hard man to ignore. Recently returned from Malta, where he has been for a second time to highlight the massacre of thousands of birds on migration by Maltese hunters, he came up with the hash tag #wheredovesdie in tribute to the late singer Prince. The idea was to draw attention to the plight of the declining turtle dove. In 2014 he was intimidated by hunters and then threatened with arrest for his efforts. This time he has been accused of being an “unethical fake and a liar” by the hunters’ federation chief executive Lino Farrugia and declared a persona non grata on the island.Packham has been credited in the media with waging war on everything from pandas to insect-eating celebrities Continue reading...

Peabody Energy brought contrarians Spencer, Happer, and Lindzen to testify on their behalf, but the judge wasn’t convinced by their case

Government says 330 million people are suffering from water shortages after monsoons failAs young boys plunge into a murky dam to escape the blistering afternoon sun, armed guards stand vigil at one of the few remaining water bodies in a state hit hard by India’s crippling drought.

A jackal squares up to a lion and a gorilla prepares to fight his own reflection. Motion-sensitive ‘camera traps’ capture some startlingly unguarded animal behaviour Continue reading...

Experts make first estimate of the value of tuna fisheries and warn Pacific Islanders have most to lose from declining stocksOverfishing is jeopardising a global tuna industry worth more than $42bn (£29bn), according to the first assessment of its kind. A report produced by the Pew Charitable Trusts has highlighted the significant revenues that fishermen, processors and retailers are generating from severely depleted species of tuna.

Underwater footage shows William Trubridge’s world record breaking 122 metre freedive at Vertical Blue 2016. The elite annual freediving competition takes place at Dean’s Blue Hole in the Bahamas, the deepest known salt water blue hole in the world. Vision: Vertical Blue Continue reading...

A bitter dispute over a 300-hectare tract of land has culminated in a Northern Territory government decision not to award it it what would have been the first Aboriginal heritage listing in DarwinIt’s a site that supporters say should be spoken of “in the same breath as the Wave Hill walk-off”, a 300-hectare tract of city-adjacent coastal land, which holds a central role in the history of Indigenous land rights.On Friday, a bitter dispute over attempts to heritage list the Kulaluk lease, less than 20km from the Darwin city centre, seemed to be decided as the Northern Territory planning minister, Dave Tollner, rejected a recommendation by the Heritage Council to list it. Continue reading...

Clocks moved forward by half an hour to restrict use of lighting and power as country grapples with economic crisisVenezuelans lost half an hour of sleep on Sunday as their clocks were moved forward to save power at the order of President Nicolás Maduro.At 2:30 am local time, the oil-dependent South American nation shifted its clocks forward by 30 minutes, to four hours behind Greenwich Mean Time. The move, announced in mid-April, was part of a package of measures the Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (Opec) member nation is pursuing to cope with a crippling electricity shortage. Continue reading...

More than 1,000 businesses across north-west England reopen after being damaged by storms Desmond and EvaMore than 1,000 businesses have declared a return to trading more than four months after being hit by severe flooding during winter storms, the government has said.Related: Electricity firm retracts compensation pledge after Storm Desmond power cuts Continue reading...

Climate group says Australian insurers lag behind overseas companies in not divesting from fossil fuelsClimate activists are targeting the role of insurance companies in the expansion of fossil fuel production, highlighting the impact of extreme weather events on their bottom line.“We’ve already targeted banks and super funds, so insurance companies are the next frontier,” said Dan Gocher from the financial activist group Market Forces. Continue reading...

Originally published in the Manchester Guardian on 6 May 1916Surrey, May 4