Environment | The Guardian

Doctors say a spike in respiratory diseases is a result of eight months of uncollected waste piled up on country’s streetsLebanon’s rubbish collection crisis, which caused thousands to protest on the streets last summer, is now in its eighth month with no resolution in sight. Though it has prompted political debates and occasional heated discussions, Lebanese medical professionals are increasingly alarmed by its effect on health.At the emergency room at the Sacré-Coeur hospital outside Beirut, doctors say they are seeing a spike in severe respiratory diseases and believe it is tied to the ongoing trash disaster. Continue reading...

Students clashed with riot police Thursday night amid anger over failure to protect a high-profile campaigner who had repeatedly received threats on her lifeThe murder of environmental and indigenous rights activist Berta Cáceres has sparked violent clashes in Honduras despite promises by President Juan Orlando Hernández to swiftly find and punish the killers.Rock-throwing students clashed with riot police firing tear gas in the University of Honduras on Thursday night amid anger over the authorities’ failure to protect a high-profile campaigner who had repeatedly received threats on her life. Continue reading...

It was amazing to see the comments roll in, from friends and strangers, saying, ‘I can’t believe you missed that, Greg’Even people in my own office asked, “Did you really miss that?” On my Facebook page, I posted a few photos I took of the rhinos before this shot was taken, but the reality is that after you’ve taken 1,000 pictures of black rhinos mating – because they go at it for quite a long time – it gets a bit boring.I’m a senior producer for the World Wide Fund for Nature, and I was in Kenya when this was taken, back in November. A film crew was documenting our work and I was there to help produce and do the photography. We decided to travel from the Maasai Mara to Nairobi national park to document a day in the life of Harrison Njoroge Kamande, the Kenya Wildlife Service rhino patrol leader, and his team. We wanted to capture their movements and see how they document the rhinos’ activity. Continue reading...

Environment ministers criticise ‘very weak’ European commission response to Paris climate pact – but other states defend existing target, reports Climate HomeGermany, Austria, Portugal and Luxembourg are leading calls for the EU to increase its 2030 climate targets in light of December’s Paris agreement.At a webcast meeting of environment ministers on Friday, they criticised the European commission for advising no change was needed. Continue reading...

An estimated 1.5 million moths cause problems for players and TV cameramen during a football match between Juazeirense and Santa Cruz in the Copa do Nordeste on Wednesday. The camera and technical staff were worst hit due to their proximity to the stadium floodlights Continue reading...

A dramatic drop in oil prices offers mixed results for motorists across the globe – from hefty savings at US pumps to a rare price hike in Venezuela. These images taken by Reuters photographers over the last few weeks show how, despite all countries having access to the same oil prices on international markets, retail fuel prices vary wildly, largely because of taxes and subsidies Continue reading...

Camera-shy gorillas, the world’s biggest owl and grey-shanked doucs are among this week’s pick of images from the natural world Continue reading...

High Pay Centre says £14m earned by Bob Dudley last year during crisis at oil firm is out of contact with realityBob Dudley, the chief executive of BP, earned nearly $20m last year – at a time when the company ran up the biggest losses in its financial history and axed thousands of jobs.The $19.6m (£14m) remuneration bonanza was condemned by the High Pay Centre as another example of a company losing “contact with reality” when it came to handing out fortunes to top executives. Continue reading...

Solar thermal schemes, that use the sun to heat water, will lose support from next year - the latest in a series of energy policy U-turns that advsiors say could increase energy billsSolar panels which use the sun to heat water will no longer receive subsidies under plans unveiled by the government.The industry has reacted furiously to the move to do away with support for new solar thermal schemes from next year under the renewable heat incentive (RHI), which aims to boost the use of clean technology to provide heating and hot water. Continue reading...

Cáceres, who was awarded the Goldman Environmental Prize for her opposition to one of Central America’s biggest hydropower projects, was shot at homeBerta Cáceres, the Honduran indigenous and environmental rights campaigner, has been murdered, barely a week after she was threatened for opposing a hydroelectric project.

Llangurig, Powys, Wales Cae Gaer in the Cambrians endures as a pale pattern in the landscape, a footnote of historyHigh in the Cambrian mountains of mid Wales, perched on a slope above the chaotically youthful river Afon Tarenig, the bleak aspect of the Roman fort at Cae Gaer speaks of military expediency and urgent purpose.In the sunshine of early spring it looks almost serene. But to a newly arrived legionary, in the depths of winter, immersed in an alien landscape still home to wolves and bears, it must have felt like the edge of the world. Continue reading...

Greenpeace claims brands such as PepsiCo and Mars cannot guarantee palm oil used in products comes from environmentally sound sourcesSome of the world’s largest consumer companies are clueless as to whether palm oil they buy from Indonesia is linked to rainforest destruction, new analysis from Greenpeace shows.The environmental group surveyed 14 companies including multinationals such as PepsiCo, Mars and Unilever, and found that none could confidently claim that no Indonesian rainforest was destroyed in the making of their products.

The CFMEU says it is very concerned about a Queensland backlog of 150,000 screening x-rays that have not been properly processedAs many as 1,000 coalminers may have black lung disease, the mining union says.The potentially fatal disease is caused by the inhalation of coal dust over a long period, and can emerge up to 15 years after exposure. Continue reading...

Administration has put resources into finding and prosecuting poachers and agreed with China to place mutual restrictions on the import of ivoryBarack Obama has said that urgent action is needed to save elephants from becoming extinct in the wild, adding that failure to do so would be an “unpardonable loss for humanity and the natural world”.

Phillip Inman reports that MPs have “won” access to TTIP documents, but can only view and not record them (MPs to see TTIP papers under strict rules, 19 February). What can the justification for this secrecy be when at the same time the government (and the EU) insist that TTIP is a good deal for all of us? Usually, when an individual or organisation has something that will benefit you, they are eager to tell you about it. With the honourable exception of Caroline Lucas, and I would hope some others, it seems incredible that our MPs either are, or are pretending to be, insouciant to the irony that they are being grudgingly granted limited access only to the details of a treaty that will demote the interests of democratically elected governments below those of multinational corporations.

Winnowing away of the ice, exacerbated by soot blown on to the ice from wildfires, means Greenland’s ice sheet is stuck in a ‘feedback loop’Greenland’s vast ice sheet is in the grip of a dramatic “feedback loop” where the surface has been getting darker and less reflective of the sun, helping accelerate the melting of ice and fuelling sea level rises, new research has found.

Coal-reliant country may be trying to slow the rise of renewable energy with a clampdown on turbine construction and maintenance, say analystsA draft Polish law that would impose a raft of exacting demands on windfarm developers is nothing less than a bid to sabotage the country’s renewable energy prospects, according to Europe’s wind industry.Developers would need to apply for a license to operate a wind turbine every two years under the proposal, which the Guardian has seen.

Inquiry into defence ministry chef filmed giving bear an explosive has been taken out of police hands due to ‘lack of progress’Regional investigators have taken over a criminal case against a Russian defence ministry contractor accused of tormenting a polar bear with an explosive, citing lack of progress by police.“In connection with the bureaucratic delays … this criminal case has been … passed to the investigative organs for further investigation,” the prosecutor general in the Chukotka region in Russia’s far north-east said. Continue reading...

Authorities tell families in green-minded co-operative they must leave, claiming they have harmful impact on Devon parkA community of green-minded co-operative workers are facing eviction from their hillside home after planners on the Dartmoor national park authority decided they were not welcome. Continue reading...

Opponents of the oil industry-backed fracking bill say it would have threatened the environment and south Florida’s drinking waterEnvironmentalists in Florida are celebrating the failure of an oil industry-backed bill they say would have opened a pathway to fracking in the ecologically sensitive Everglades wetlands.

Conservation organisation funds and logistically aids anti-poaching eco-guards who are victimising pygmy groups, claims tribal defence groupWWF, the world’s largest conservation organisation, has been accused by leading tribal defence group Survival International of inadvertently facilitating serious human rights abuses against pygmy groups living in Cameroonian rainforests.

As Kenya plans to construct its first coal-fired power plant, a group of 30 community-based organisations is fighting to halt the multibillion dollar projectAzure sky, clear sea and a busy seafront create the picturesque views of Lamu Old Town, the oldest and Swahili settlement in east Africa and an Unesco world heritage site. Continue reading...

Utility firm raises concerns as government considers options for increasing competition and preventing blackoutsNational Grid has warned the government that attempts to take over its role in preventing blackouts would bring further uncertainty and be of little benefit to consumers.The company was responding after the Department of Energy and Climate Change (Decc) said it was considering a range of options, which are believed to include handing over the role to the regulator, Ofgem, or setting up a not-for-profit company. The new body would oversee large energy consumers limiting their consumption and would order power stations to increase their output to try to prevent energy shortages. Continue reading...

Jonathan Slaght has dedicated his professional life to safeguarding the rare Blakiston’s fish owl, the world’s biggest owl. But he wouldn’t have it any other way

Fossil fuel barons have invested more than $100m in Republican presidential Super Pacs – raising concerns over special interests if GOP takes White HouseFossil fuel millionaires collectively pumped more than $100m into Republican presidential contenders’ efforts last year – in an unprecedented investment by the oil and gas industry in the party’s future.About one in three dollars donated to Republican hopefuls from mega-rich individuals came from people who owe their fortunes to fossil fuels – and who stand to lose the most in the fight against climate change. Continue reading...

Sources say £10.5m plant intended to burn woodchip to power much of the university has never workedOne of the UK’s largest and most ambitious biomass schemes, built with a £1m government grant, has been quietly abandoned.The £10.5m plant was intended burn woodchip to power much of the University of East Anglia (UEA), which has been hailed for its environmental credentials. Continue reading...

By tackling the environment we can also mitigate the impact of disasters, as heatwaves, droughts and floods threaten the lives of millionsThe Hyogo framework for action (HFA), adopted in January 2005 by UN member states, was an unprecedented move to promote saving lives and livelihoods from disasters over a decade. Has there been progress?The Centre for Research on the Epidemiology of Disasters and major insurance companies agree that, in 2015, figures for deaths, numbers of people affected and economic losses from disasters were below the 10-year average. Continue reading...

Greenpeace finds suppliers of cod to Birds Eye, Findus and Young’s are using controversial bottom trawlers in the northern Barents SeaMajor British food brands and supermarkets buying cod from Arctic waters risk having their supply chain “tainted” because of links with fishing further north in the Arctic, Greenpeace has warned.

After the success of campaigns to get investors to divest from fossil fuel companies, factory farming is the next targetThe fast food chain Subway is latest to join the backlash against antibiotic use in the farm sector. It has launched a new chicken sandwich in the US made with meat from animals raised without antibiotics.The move is a sign of the growing consumer and business interest in the welfare and environmental impact of animals reared for meat, dairy and eggs, with most of the blame directed at intensive, factory-style farms. Continue reading...

Data released on UN world wildlife day shows overall population is still falling despite a recent reduction in levels of poaching for ivoryMore African elephants are being killed for ivory than are being born, despite poaching levels falling for the fourth year in a row in 2015.The new data, released on UN world wildlife day on Thursday, shows about 60% of elephant deaths are at the hands of poachers, meaning the overall population is most likely to be falling. Continue reading...

Proposed mines in Queensland, including Adani’s huge Carmichael project, will destroy so much habitat the damage cannot be ‘offset’, researchers sayProposed coalmines in Queensland, including the huge Adani Carmichael project, would destroy the majority of the remaining habitat of the threatened black-throated finch, according to research.Related: Australia on the spot over Adani mine and funding of Attenborough reef series Continue reading...

New research shows global warming’s effect on the quality of food available could kill more than 500,000 people a year around the world by 2050

Habitat loss is forcing Sri Lanka’s endangered elephants into increased opposition with humans. New work from photographer Sean Gallagher shows how the animals, long revered in the country’s culture and religion, are now becoming a symbol of conflict Continue reading...

Power bills may be higher due to changes to wind farm funding and energy efficiency schemes, MPs warnChanges in government energy policy since the last election have chased off investors and may have added £120 a year to household bills, according to a parliamentary report.Thursday’s report, from the energy and climate change committee, argues future domestic and business power bills may be higher than necessary as a result of changes including U-turns on funding onshore windfarms and energy efficiency schemes. Continue reading...