Reports of mining in the River Santiago basin raise concerns given the devastating social and environmental impacts elsewhereThree people in a motorised canoe on the mighty River Santiago in Peru’s northern Amazon some weeks ago saw something deeply alarming. It was one dredge and between 15 and 20 men mining for gold up one left-bank tributary.Two of the people in the canoe were consultants for Lima-based NGO DAR, which has dubbed the River Santiago Peru’s “last frontier” for illegal mining. “In the Amazon gold extraction is only known about in the Madre de Dios and Puno regions in the south of the country,” Esteban Valle Riestra, one of DAR’s consultants, told the Guardian. “The shift to the north, where in the Santiago basin it started within the last three years, is something new.”

‘Real leadership shows that consensus and negotiation is a sign of strength, not weakness,’ opposition leader writes in part-memoir part-manifestoBill Shorten has released his own part-memoir part-manifesto, a book casting his life, career and policies for government as part of Labor’s centrist reforming tradition and in the mould of Bob Hawke’s consensus-driven leadership style.

I have been disappointed by the Green party refusing to be drawn on the use of the second-preference vote in the London mayoral election and by its recent election broadcast suggesting that there is little distinction between the Tories and Labour. I was even more disappointed this weekend to receive in my inbox an email from Lib Dem HQ telling activists to spend the last few days of the campaign “capitalising” on Labour party “troubles”. Let’s be clear: Caroline Pidgeon and I have spent the last four years on the London assembly working closely with both Labour and Green colleagues. Together we have mounted robust opposition to Boris’s abysmal record of inaction on housing, the environment and transport. We have worked together because we have found there to be a great deal more that unites us than divides us. To suggest otherwise is ridiculous and unhelpful.The Tory party is divided and isolated – out of touch and with luck soon to be out of office. Its campaign has been a disgrace. Its only remaining hope is that Zac Goldsmith will be able to spread the delusion that he is somehow an environmentalist. In fact his Tory colleagues on the assembly have spent the last four years arguing that London should become the UK centre for fracking; and he is advocating that Britain leave the EU, whose laws have driven all the major improvements we have seen in recent decades on air pollution, waste management, and carbon emissions. My friend and colleague Caroline Pidgeon will get my first-preference vote for mayor on Thursday. She has a well-thought-out set of policies for London and her eight years of experience at City Hall has shone through during her confident hustings performances. But of course my second-preference vote will go to Sadiq Khan. It’s a no-brainer.

Thirty-three lions rescued from circuses in South America arrive at a big cat sanctuary in South Africa. The lions are seen roaring and playing with each other as they’re freed into nature for the first time. They were rescued from circuses in Peru and Colombia and have been resettled in an private estate in Limpopo province Continue reading...

The Nature Conservancy-funded program will test how new hook designs and other practices could reduce bycatch while keeping the fishing business lucrative

We go behind the scenes on a tuna fishing expedition in Palau, an island nation in the western Pacific, where researchers from The Nature Conservancy test a number of sustainable fishing practices that could reduce bycatch – the unwanted fish and other marine creatures caught during commercial fishing – while keeping the fishing business lucrative

Portable ‘Desolenator’ makes sea water and rain fit for human consumptionTravelling around Thailand in the 1990s, William Janssen was impressed with the basic rooftop solar heating systems that were on many homes, where energy from the sun was absorbed by a plate and then used to heat water for the home.

Draft wild horse management plan for Kosciuszko national park aims to cut the population of wild horses from 6,000 to 600Ninety per cent of the Snowy Mountains brumbies would be culled over the next two decades, under a plan released by the New South Wales government.The draft wild horse management plan for Kosciuszko national park aims to cut the population of wild horses in the park from 6,000 to about 3,000 in the next five to 10 years. Continue reading...

Before you embark on a cruise, there are serious ethical questions to ask…Ahoy, my ageing hearties. Increasing numbers of mega liners are being built. These monster ships can carry, entertain and feed 5,000 passengers at a time. Meanwhile research from Tourism Concern shows that the older vessels are responsible for 36 times as many greenhouse gas emissions per passenger kilometre than Eurostar and three and a half times more than a long-haul flight. And this is just the start of a long ethical rap sheet.So here are the questions to ask before setting sail that nobody does… Continue reading...

Coalition government announces budget funds for national plan to control Australia’s worst freshwater feral pestTuesday’s federal budget will include funding for a $15m for a national carp control plan in an attempt to eradicate Australia’s worst freshwater feral pest, the government announced on Sunday.The plan includes the staged release of the carp-specific herpes virus in the Murray-Darling basin. CSIRO scientists have been testing the virus in Australian native fish species and other animals found along the river for the past seven years and have established that it is safe to release into the ecosystem without harming other species. Continue reading...

Big cats arrive in South Africa, where sanctuary beckons, after having suffered cruel treatment in Colombia and PeruThe roars of lions filled the cargo section of Johannesburg’s main international airport on Saturday evening as 33 lions rescued from South American circuses landed in South Africa.The animals will now be released into a bush sanctuary for big cats. Continue reading...

President Uhuru Kenyatta orders destruction of more than 100 tonnes of tusks in 11 pyresThe Kenyan president set fire to a huge stockpile of ivory on Saturday in an effort to show his country’s commitment to saving Africa’s elephants.Uhuru Kenyatta ordered the destruction of more than 100 tonnes of tusks from around 6,700 elephants, stacked in 11 pyres at a ceremony in Nairobi national park. The fires, destroying a quantity seven times bigger than ever before, are expected to burn for several days. Continue reading...

Government’s failure to tackle health and safety issues, food poisoning and pollution leading to ‘largely avoidable’ deaths, says thinktankThousands of people are dying each year because of the government’s failure to tackle food poisoning, health and safety breaches and pollution, a thinktank is warning.A new report from the Centre for Crime and Justice Studies (CCJS) claims that lax regulation and weak enforcement are failing to hold businesses in check and are tantamount to state-facilitated “social murder”. Continue reading...

Kenya sets ablaze 100 tonnes of elephant ivory and one tonne of rhino horn, in what is being called the largest stockpile of the material to be destroyed. Led by Kenyan president Uhuru Kenyatta at the Nairobi national park, eleven giant pyres of ivory is set on fire using 20,000 litres of gasoline. The decision to destroy the ivory was made to highlight the impact of poaching

Kenyan president lights pyres in move some fear will drive further poaching by taking 5% of global stock out of circulationMore than 100 tonnes of ivory has been set ablaze in Kenya, the largest ever such fire, in an attempt to shock the world into protecting endangered elephants.Eleven giant pyres of tusks from around 6,000 elephants, a quantity seven times the size of any previous burn, were lit by the Kenyan president, Uhuru Kenyatta, at a ceremony in Nairobi national park on Saturday. Continue reading...

Nearly wiped out in a bid to demolish Native American resistance, the bison’s history paints a picture of strife and redemption that mirrors the US’s ownThe bald eagle may appeal to America’s sense of self – soaring, majestic, hard to tame – but as a national symbol, the more humble bison paints a truer picture of the strife and redemption that has marked US history.The bison is to become the first national mammal of the US, elevating it to the giddy heights of symbolism currently occupied by the bald eagle. Little more than 100 years since it was virtually exterminated in America in a manic bid to demolish Native American resistance, the bison now has establishment status. Continue reading...

Kenya has destroyed 105 tonnes of confiscated ivory, almost all of the country’s stockpile, at an event in Nairobi national park attended by several African heads of state and conservationists. The event was intended to send a strong anti-poaching message Continue reading...

The purple emperor and chequered skipper await, whether you just fancy a flutter or metamorphose into a full-blown spotterThe purple emperor butterfly, a rather eccentric 1950s schoolmaster called Ian Heslop once declared, is the ultimate “big game”. A renowned collector, he boasted of catching as many emperors as he had shot elephants (four) but said that no exotic African beast gave him “so much joy as the seeing of my first emperor safely in the net”.It is no longer acceptable to shoot elephants or catch purple emperors but Heslop was on to something – the overlooked adrenal pleasure of a butterfly safari. Chasing butterflies, to photograph or simply to enjoy, may seem like a whimsical pastime but can be surprisingly thrilling. Continue reading...

Paula Kahumbu: Kenya’s ivory burn will help end demand worldwide by making people ashamed to buy and own ivoryWe are often told that wildlife conservation should make economic sense, and so it should. In my previous article I outlined some of the economic arguments in favour of burning ivory stockpiles.Wildlife conservation should make moral sense as well. Winning the moral argument is probably even important than good economics for saving elephants and wildlife. Continue reading...

Robert Macfarlane, Helen Macdonald, Kathleen Jamie and other contemporary writers choose the books that made them fall in love with the natural world

The UK has hundreds of islands, hills and rivers and a coastline almost 20,000 miles long, inspiring a passion deep within us. Plus: top five wild hotspots

I’ll admit it, I didn’t read the small print. So I almost paid the price when a £26 offer was cut by more than two-thirdsI’m an idiot, I don’t mind admitting it. In a fit of stupidity, and only seeing pounds signs, I was lured in by flashy marketing and failed to read the small print when looking to make some extra cash. I sent off an old mobile phone to a gadget recycling company without checking its credentials or terms of business – and it nearly cost me dear.RapidRecycle.co.uk, part of Goodbye Gadgets, quoted me £26.75 for my old Samsung Galaxy S3 Mini. It was in full working order with only one or two scratches and chips. There were three options when describing it: new, working and faulty. I picked working. “Super prices! We pay what we quote,” the website boasts. “Don’t trust other recyclers with their overinflated prices. Rapid Recycle will only give you the best!” Continue reading...

Crewe Green, Cheshire Creative writing students take a walk in the natural world in search of material for poetry

Former US Democratic vice-president says agency’s decision will deeply affect the source of valuable research for the entire worldAl Gore has said the decision by Australia’s science agency CSIRO to cut climate research should be “re-evaluated at the highest level”, since they limit a source of critical information for the entire world as it attempts to solve the challenges posed by climate change.The former US Democratic vice-president also praised the government’s support for renewable energy and the Labor party’s recent climate change policy announcement. Continue reading...

Leading environmental activist says cheaper renewable energy provides an opportunity to create a sustainable world economy – but we must do moreAl Gore, former US vice-president, Nobel laureate and chairman of the Climate Reality Project, has led the global discussion about climate change for many years. His multi-award-winning film An Inconvenient Truth (2006) has been widely credited with changing the way world leaders and citizens think about the issue. Don Henry is public policy fellow in environmentalism at the University of Melbourne and is a former director of the Australian Conservation Foundation. He is a long-term collaborator with Gore. Their conversation was recorded for the Griffith Review.Related: Al Gore attacks CSIRO's climate cuts and praises Labor's proposals Continue reading...

Bipartisanship on climate policy would bring ‘real economic benefits’, former Reserve Bank board member Warwick Mckibbon saysThe investor uncertainty caused by a continuing climate policy war would push power prices up by more than the policies proposed by either the government or Labor, according to a leading modeller.Related: Why Coalition climate scare campaign is not credible and makes no sense Continue reading...

US Interior Secretary Sally Jewell has painted a stark picture of communities displaced by rising Arctic temperatures that are ‘washing away’ townsThe Obama administration has warned the US will need to deal with a wave of “climate refugees” as the Arctic continues to warm, joining with the Canadian government to express alarm over how climate change is affecting indigenous communities.

Canadians across the political spectrum want a bold challenge to the status quo—and it’s up to the NDP to provide itFor weeks, the corporate media has spouted a stern prediction: Canadians will flee in horror from the Leap Manifesto. We are a “modest shift people,” not “big shift people”. The New Democratic Party, merely by endorsing to debate the document, would court “irrelevance.”A new poll shows just how wrong they were: far from recoiling from the Leap Manifesto, people are embracing it. Among the large and growing number of Canadians who have heard about the Leap Manifesto, half support it. That includes a majority of New Democrats and Greens, half of Liberal voters, and even twenty percent of Conservatives. Continue reading...

In an open letter, environmentalists say locating Marés Vivas event near a nature reserve threatens nesting birds and wildlifeCampaigners have sent an open letter to Elton John asking him to boycott a Portuguese music festival due to concerns it will be an environmental disaster for a nearby nature reserve.Marés Vivas festival, which takes place every July in Gaia, Porto, has been moved for the first time to an area of land just 100m from the nature reserve of the Douro River Estuary. Continue reading...

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...

Internal documents appear to show British Museum, National Portrait Gallery and others accommodating oil firm’s demandsThe Museums Association is investigating claims that some of Britain’s most revered cultural institutions have broken its code of ethics in the way they dealt with one of their commercial sponsors, BP.The move follows the release of internal documents seen by the Guardian that appear to show the British Museum, National Portrait Gallery and other institutions bending to accommodate the demands of the oil company. Continue reading...

The emissions scandal has revealed the motor industry’s stunning disregard for public health. Who knows how else they’ve been putting our lives on the line?Since the financial crisis of 2008, we have had multiple scandals about banks and bankers behaving badly – from the misselling of payment protection insurance and interest-rate hedges, to the rigging of Libor and foreign exchange rates, and corporate collusion in money laundering. The banking industry has been singled out for its unhealthy internal culture. But the car emissions scandal shows that sociopathic corporate behaviour is widespread, and its effects are even worse elsewhere.Related: Diesel cars' emissions far higher on road than in lab, tests show Continue reading...

Tusks from over 6,000 illegally killed elephants will be set alight in Nairobi national park to highlight the poaching crisisTusks from more than 6,000 illegally killed elephants will be burned in Kenya on Saturday, the biggest ever destruction of an ivory stockpile and the most striking symbol yet of the plight of one of nature’s last great beasts.The ceremonial burning in Nairobi national park at noon will be attended by Kenya’s president, Uhuru Kenyatta, heads of state including Ali Bongo Ondimba of Gabon and Yoweri Museveni of Uganda, high-ranking United Nations and US officials, and charities. A wide network of conservation groups around the world have sent messages applauding the work. Continue reading...

Flying fish, nesting birds and a new species of lizard are among this week’s pick of images from the natural world Continue reading...

Conservationists say census figures are ‘worrying’ and cast doubts on the country’s anti-poaching effortsMore tigers have been killed in India already this year than in the whole of 2015, a census showed Friday, raising doubts about the country’s anti-poaching efforts.

Traditional owners describe backing for facility on South Australian cattle station beside Indigenous cultural site as ‘cultural genocide’A South Australian cattle station that is part-owned by the state’s Liberal party director and next to an Indigenous Protected Area has been provisionally selected as the site of Australia’s first nuclear waste dump, outraging traditional owners.Related: Feuds and infighting as nuclear waste dump plan tears communities apart Continue reading...

As exams and fair weather approach, join us on Wednesday 4 May from 5.30pm to 7.30pm for advice and debate about making the most of outdoor educationMost adults will have treasured memories of splashing in muddy puddles and playing games in the local park. But today’s youngsters are leading far more enclosed lives. A recent study found that three-quarters of UK children spend less time outside than prison inmates.This doesn’t just have a damaging impact on young people’s health – outdoor play increases fitness levels and raises levels of vitamin D, for example – there are also consequences for children’s educational development and wellbeing. Continue reading...

Fineshade Woods, Northamptonshire Not a carpet of bluebells, but a scattering of sweet hyacinth, celandines and anemonesI propose that a few hours spent in an English wood in the full flush of spring is an experience that leaves all such time investors revitalised and calmed.Fineshade Wood is not furnished with a wall to wall carpet of bluebells, although sufficient in places to provide wafts of sweet hyacinth fragrance. This Forestry Commission-owned, largely broadleaf-planted, forest has mixed ground flora; bluebells, yellow lesser celandines and white wood anemones are scattered like an array of colourful stars. Continue reading...

The 160kg animal swam and waddled its way to the ranch in Washington state but has failed to survive the sea, biologists sayA sea lion that baffled scientists after being found in the driveway of a cattle ranch about 80km (50 miles) from the ocean in Washington state has been found dead two weeks after being released into the sea.The male California sea lion was released into Puget Sound on 15 April after it apparently swam and waddled its way to the ranch near Oakville, the Tacoma News Tribune reported. Continue reading...

‘We believe the long-term solution is for all of us to reduce our consumption of fossil fuel resources,’ board says after years of protests at the California campusStanford University’s board of trustees has voted not to divest from fossil fuels in a move that has drawn widespread criticisms from students and environmental groups as other colleges across the US have pledged to end oil and gas investments in response to campus protests.The decision at Stanford, a prestigious university that has advertised itself as a “leader in combating climate change”, comes after years of protests at the northern California campus, including a high-profile sit-in last year during which students demanded that the school “completely divest” its $22.2bn endowment from the fossil fuel industry. Continue reading...

The declaration will allow Fema to provide emergency relief to the archipelago, which received just a quarter of its usual rainfall during November to FebruaryBarack Obama has declared the severe drought in the Marshall Islands a disaster, opening the way for emergency US funding for the Pacific island nation.

My dad, Richard Hedley, who has died aged 80, said he was lucky to have lived in two of God’s great counties. His childhood county of Northumberland inspired his love of the outdoors, but Hampshire, his home for nearly 60 years, was where he left a lasting legacy through his work in conserving a rare species of orchid.Born in Whitley Bay, to Francis, a clergyman, and Sybil, a teacher, Richard and his brother, Nicholas, enjoyed a childhood peppered with hill-walking and fishing, and which included evacuation during the second world war to the village of Hepple. These semi-rural early years, completed with education at the progressive Kingsmoor boarding school, in Glossop, Derbyshire, led Richard to study botany and biological sciences at King’s College, Durham (now Newcastle University), before training as a teacher. He met Jean, his wife of 57 years, when he was 18 and they married in 1959. Continue reading...

Leaked document shows proceeds from the sale of 330kg stockpile would be used to protect country’s 73 white rhinos from poachingThe kingdom of Swaziland has made a surprise proposal to legalise the trade in rhino horn in order to pay for anti-poaching measures.In a leaked document addressed to the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (Cites), Swaziland’s anti-poaching body said it wanted to sell the country’s 330kg stockpile of horn collected from naturally deceased animals and confiscated from poachers. Continue reading...

Former archbishop of Canterbury says the university should withdraw its £5.8bn fund from from oil, coal and gas on ethical and financial groundsRowan Williams has called on the University of Cambridge to divest from fossil fuels, arguing that climate change is “a life-and-death question”.

High court to hear case against government’s ‘woefully inadequate’ plans to tackle air pollution, just a year after losing in the supreme courtThe UK government is to be sued in the high court over its air pollution plans, just a year after losing at the supreme court and being ordered to fulfil its legal duty to cut pollution rapidly.

As the industry winds down, a new generation of activists are dreaming of replacing sugar with a new agricultural model – and a new political settlementFor one last season, luscious, green fields of sugarcane are animating Maui’s landscape.Hulking trucks are loading pre-burned cane from the Hawaiian Corporate and Sugar Company (HC&S)’s 144th crop into the rust-colored factory where it will be rolled, shredded, squeezed and boiled into molasses. Passenger jets rumbling over the cane fields are a reminder that tourism has overtaken sugar in recent years, and assumed the role of largest industry in Maui. Continue reading...

On issues from air pollution to civil liberties, elected Greens ask difficult questions – as a result, the establishment sees us as a threatElected Greens are being systematically monitored by the Metropolitan police because we do not buy into the ideas that uphold the establishment status quo. We ask difficult questions, we often support people who are causing waves, and we promote policies that mainstream politicians feel threatened by.We are part of a wider movement for change and we do our bit to defend people whose right to protest is under threat. For example, I have been a big defender of the monthly Critical Mass bike ride in London, the peaceful protesters at G8 and the student demonstrations. However it’s worth noting that I’ve also sat down with senior police officers to discuss issues such as how they deal with people trafficking, FGM, wildlife crime and hit-and-run drivers, and how they catch all sorts of other criminals. I’ve helped steer policing policy and earned respect from the senior ranks. Unlike most people on their domestic extremism database, I am known to them personally. We sit down for coffee, and we generally get on well. Continue reading...

Aviva among latest investors to declare support for climate change resolution at next month’s AGM, reports Climate HomeA growing list of major investors is backing calls on ExxonMobil to acknowledge climate risk, after its credit rating was downgraded on Tuesday.British insurer Aviva and Seattle’s public pension fund are among the latest to declare their support for a shareholder resolution to be considered at next month’s AGM. California’s CalPERS, New York City Pension Fund and the Church of England are also in favour. Continue reading...

Different types of neonicotinoid pesticide have varying effects on colonies with one showing no bee decline, say scientistsTwo of the world’s most widely used insecticides cause significant harm to bumblebee colonies, a new study has found, but a third had no effect.The work shows the distinct effects of each type of neonicotinoid pesticide, from cuts in live bees and eggs to changed sex ratios and numbers of queens. Previously, the different types of neonicotinoids have often been treated as interchangeable. Continue reading...

Just 19% of people back fracking while public support for renewables has surged to 81%, government poll showsPublic support for fracking in the UK has fallen to a new low, according to government polling, at the same time as backing for renewable energy has hit a record high.The survey, which is repeated every few months, shows that public enthusiasm for the controversial energy extraction method has fallen steadily in the past two years while opposition to it has risen dramatically. Continue reading...