Franciscana dolphin at Argentinian beach was one of fewer than 30,000 and is considered a threatened speciesThe Wildlife Foundation in Argentina has urged people to return beached dolphins to the sea as soon as possible, after a dolphin died having been passed around so that beachgoers could take photos with it.

Action plan says endangered okapi will be lost without action to tackle illegal mining and armed conflict in protected central African forestsConservationists have called for urgent action to stop armed militia and illegal mining in protected central African forests from driving the elusive okapi to extinction.A 10-year plan to save the “forest giraffe” drawn up by a coalition of conservation groups and NGOs calls for government and international commitments to support key protected areas from armed militia involved in ivory poaching and illegal gold-mining activities. Continue reading...

Critics say central government guidance forbidding local authorities from divesting is financially risky, politically unacceptable and open to legal challenge

Your article “‘No evidence’ that EU’s illegal timber policy is working” (theguardian.com, 10 February) does not mention the huge challenge the EU timber regulation (EUTR) represents, nor the timber industry’s achievements in implementing it to date and wider commitment to eradicating illegal wood.The regulation entails every member state company that “first places” timber and other forest products on the EU market putting all suppliers through due diligence illegality risk assessment. Given that many suppliers are in countries with underdeveloped governance and infrastructure, this can be highly complex. Every EU country has also had to establish new structures for EUTR enforcement. So it’s small wonder that, after just three years, it remains a work in progress. But the timber industry acknowledges this and, notably via the European Timber Trade Federation (ETTF), is urging improved implementation. Continue reading...

Government failure to confirm funding for police unit responsible for investigating crimes against British wildlife condemnedChris Packham, the naturalist and TV presenter, has said it is “disgusting and disappointing” that the UK’s wildlife crime agency faces closure in six weeks unless the government renews its funding.The national wildlife crime unit (NWCU) was established in 2006 to investigate offences including rare-bird egg theft, deer poaching, the trade in endangered species, hare coursing, illegal taxidermy and cruelty to wild animals. Continue reading...

Join experts in the comments section of this page on Wednesday, 24 February, 1-2pm GMT to discuss the role of food companies in improving public healthObesity is “an exploding nightmare” according to a recent World Health Organisation report, and it’s swiftly rising up the political agenda.Associated with health complications including type 2 diabetes, coronary heart disease, strokes and cancer, it’s estimated that 600 million people globally are obese. In the UK, it’s predicted that obese will be the most common body type in less than twenty years. Already, it costs the NHS £6bn a year. Continue reading...

Current climate event is still strong but it is too early to say whether it will be most powerful on record, says World Meteorological OrganisationThe El Niño that caused record temperatures, drought and floods over the last year has passed its peak strength but will continue to have humanitarian impacts for months to come, the UN has said.The World Meteorological Organisation (WMO) said the event, which plays havoc with weather systems around the world, was still strong and its impacts on communities in southern Africa, the Horn of Africa and Central America were becoming increasingly apparent. Continue reading...

Clean energy is a major campaign issue in this week’s Ugandan election. All the candidates are promising new projects, but how will these affect the locals?As Uganda’s general election looms this week, candidates have been courting the electorate with their plans to increase international investment and boost the country’s economic outlook. The country has fast become the destination of choice for land-hungry oil and agriculture industries, but in the latest election a new contender has emerged for Uganda’s sought after acreage: renewable energies.Related: Ugandan mayor: My district will be 100% renewable by 2020 Continue reading...

Footage taken by 7news reporter Teegan Dolling shows tumbleweed called hairy panic taking over the Victorian rural town of Wangaratta on Thursday, as homes are engulfed by the fast-growing weed. Local media reported that the tumbleweed has been around for a couple of years, but the dry conditions have made this summer the worst Continue reading...

Recent downpours have greened Lesotho’s valleys, camouflaging a crisis caused by two years of inadequate rain that is spreading malnutrition and diseaseFor 14-year-old Hopolang Staka, Lesotho’s worst drought in more than four decades means fewer meals, a daily two-hour trek for water and an education postponed.At the family’s small holding in Mafeteng, 70km south of the capital Maseru, Hopolang, an Aids orphan, supplements the 350 maloti (£15) monthly child support grant from the government with income from herding neighbours’ cattle. He dropped out of school last year because his street hawking brothers couldn’t afford the fees.

Dry grass piles up around homes in Wangaratta, north-east Victoria – at times reportedly reaching roof heightResidents of a rural Australian city are frustrated by a fast-growing tumbleweed called hairy panic that is piling up outside their houses, covering lawns and blocking doors and windows.Hairy panic is piling up outside several homes in Wangaratta in north-east Victoria – at times reportedly reaching roof height – forcing residents to clear it several times a day. About 20 residences on Bella Way, a new development hard against the fringe of farmland, have been particularly affected, with the grass blowing over from neighbouring fields. Continue reading...

Backstone Bank, Weardale On the ground, on fallen trunks and limbs, the first signs of life were forcing their way through the skeletons of last summer’s leavesI felt the sting of ice on my face just before I reached the shelter of the wood. The squall appeared as a sullen grey mist as it swept down the fell, engulfing grazing sheep before it roared through the tree canopy overhead. A blizzard of tiny hailstones hissed as they bounced across the layer of dead leaves around my feet.Seeking refuge on the lee side of an oak, I leaned against its trunk. It pushed hard against my back as it bent beneath a swaying crown that clattered against neighbours’ branches. There can be few more exhilarating ways to experience a gale than to feel its elemental force transmitted down through an ancient tree’s trunk and into your own body. Continue reading...

Chinese state-owned company has NSW government approval for $1.2bn open cut mine on Liverpool Plains, but falling coal price has raised questions over its viability, according to reportsFederal government sources have reportedly cast doubt on the future of a contentious coal project in north-west New South Wales proposed by a Chinese state-owned company, according to the ABC.Shenhua is yet to apply for a mining lease for its $1.2bn open cut Watermark coalmine on the Liverpool Plains despite having development approval from the state government. Continue reading...

Fracked! Or: Please Don’t Use the F-Word, by Alistair Beaton, to debut as part of final season at Chichester Festival theatreAnne Reid and James Bolam are to star as unlikely anti-fracking campaigners in a new stage play by the political satirist Alistair Beaton.Fracked! Or: Please Don’t Use the F-Word was announced on Thursday as part of the final season at Chichester Festival theatre under the leadership of Jonathan Church and Alan Finch. Continue reading...

Automaker tells watchdog it will not take part this year in the American Legislative Exchange Council, which fights environmental regulationsFord has cut ties with the controversial lobby group Alec, joining a roster of big corporations that have distanced themselves from the rightwing network that promotes policies at the state level to counter environmental regulations.The car giant confirmed to the watchdog the Center for Media and Democracy (CMD) that it had ended its membership. A company spokesman said that “we will not be participating in Alec in 2016”. Continue reading...

We are about to make a definitive and generational decision on our continuing membership of Europe (Four EU states shun Cameron benefits plan, 17 February). If there were to be two referendums, the first on the principle of remaining in the EU, and the second on the basis of the extent to which “agreements” have been honoured, and promises made reality, then David Cameron’s negotiations make sense. As it is, to hold a referendum on the basis of his negotiations is to offer a pig in a poke. Much more honest to base the referendum on Europe as it is now.If this means that we start recognising the massive advantages of embracing Europe wholeheartedly, so much the better. The Europeans often seem far more in line with British values than our own government does, for example on human rights. The electorate needs promises and commitments, but not those gained by Cameron, which only confuse the issue. We need to know that a vote to remain will galvanise our own government to take a full and less querulous part in Europe. Sadly, David Cameron cannot promise even that much.

British luxury car brand and LeEco consumer electronics firm to develop car based on Aston Martin Rapide S modelAston Martin is setting up a venture with the Chinese consumer electronics group LeEco to jointly develop the British luxury car brand’s first electric vehicle.

As southern Africa grapples with devastating drought, maize fields lie empty, the soil is like sand and water must be shared between cattle and peopleIt rained in Mbalavala two weeks ago. The clouds built up from the south, a shower cleared the dusty air, but then, cruelly, it stopped after an hour. For a moment, the 120 families who live in the southern Mozambican village thought their two-year drought was ending.But that was it. Since then there has been no hint of rain and the chances of planting crops this year in Mbalavala diminish every day as El Niño, the natural weather phenomenon that upturns normal weather patterns every few years in southern Africa, reaches its peak and Mozambique comes to the end of another dry rainy season. Continue reading...

Harvard study shows 30% rise across the country since 2002 with peaks coinciding with shale oil and gas boom, reports Climate CentralThere was a huge global spike in one of the most potent greenhouse gases driving climate change over the last decade, and the U.S. may be the biggest culprit, according a new Harvard University study.The United States alone could be responsible for between 30-60% of the global growth in human-caused atmospheric methane emissions since 2002 because of a 30% spike in methane emissions across the country, the study says. Continue reading...

Environmental activists attempt set up barricades in bid to stop Cengiz Holding gold mine being built in lush Artvin region on the Black SeaTurkish police fired teargas Wednesday to disperse hundreds of protesters trying to prevent a gold mine from being built in an ecologically pristine area in the Black Sea region, an AFP photographer said.There has been a growing standoff over plans by the Cengiz Holding conglomerate to build the mine in the Artvin region on the Black Sea. Continue reading...

New study suggests the knock-on effects of delivery trucks may worsen traffic congestion and transport-related carbon emissions, reports Conservation magazineOn the surface, shopping online seems good for the environment: it eliminates car trips and associated carbon emissions.But what about the emissions from fleets of delivery vehicles bringing orders to houses? Delivery trucks also contribute substantially to the burden of fine particulate matter, known as PM2.5, in the air, which is associated with many effects on human health. Continue reading...

The best use of resources is to adopt a triage approach to climate change – deal with the direst circumstances first, and work from thereClimate change, and human resistance to making the changes needed to halt it, both continue apace: 2015 was the hottest year in recorded history, we may be on the brink of a major species extinction event in the ocean, and yet political will is woefully lacking to tackle this solvable problem.Related: Why don't we treat climate change with the rigor we give to terror attacks? | Ruth Greenspan Bell Continue reading...

Italian photographer Davide Lopresti has been named Underwater photographer of the year 2016 for his stunning seahorse image titled Gold. Showcasing some of the most breathtaking images captured beneath the depths in the UK and around the world, the annual competition receives thousands of entries from talented photographers

Bears, birds and butterflies at risk as Bulgaria prepares to build EU-funded road through the stunning Kresna valley conservation areaBulgaria is planning to carve a motorway to Greece through a spectacular gorge famed for its golden eagles, griffon vultures and peregrine falcons, in defiance of an EU order to tunnel the road.The 11-mile Kresna valley is also a crucial migratory path for bears, wolves and jackals, with a warm micro-climate that bridges the southern fringe of the Balkans with the northern tip of the Mediterranean. Continue reading...

St Dominick, Tamar Valley: The first primroses are splashed and muddy; pennywort and moss drip in the slate cuttingsTall jonquils protrude through flailed woody growth on the top of hedgebanks near Dairy Mill. These fragrant narcissi, like the Double Lents or Van Sions, were valued as an early crop by the valley’s market gardeners but only a few throw-outs survive. Mild weather has also expedited flowering of trumpeted daffodils but, around Burraton and Bohetherick, the blooms have been battered (and spoiled) by gales and heavy rain. Buds of later narcissi are opening in one of the few remaining bulb fields but these are too early for the traditional Mother’s Day and Easter markets. The main outdoor crop is now eucalyptus (cut throughout the year for its foliage) with fruit and flowers grown in polytunnels.Related: Signs of the industrious Continue reading...

Residents post images of discoloured water and children’s sores and rashes, which parents say appeared after bathing in or drinking the waterHealth authorities have assured residents of a regional New South Wales city its water supply is not contaminated after panic spread that children bathing in Broken Hill’s water were developing sores and rashes.Some of Broken Hill’s 19,000 residents have been posting images to social media showing skin conditions they say their children developed after bathing in or drinking the city’s water. Photos are also appearing on Facebook of murky or discoloured water residents say they fear to use. Continue reading...

Severe droughts and floods have ruined harvests, and left nearly 100 million people in southern Africa, Asia and Latin America facing food and water shortagesSevere droughts and floods triggered by one of the strongest El Niño weather events ever recorded have left nearly 100 million people in southern Africa, Asia and Latin America facing food and water shortages and vulnerable to diseases including Zika, UN bodies, international aid agencies and governments have said.New figures from the UN’s World Food Programme say 40 million people in rural areas and 9 million in urban centres who live in the drought-affected parts of Zimbabwe, Mozambique, South Africa, Zambia, Malawi and Swaziland will need food assistance in the next year.

Bipartisan accord signed by governors of 17 states sets out commitments to expand energy efficiency and use more solar and wind generation for electricityA bipartisan group of governors from 17 states has pledged to accelerate their efforts to create a green economy in the US by boosting renewables, building better electricity grids and cutting emissions from transport.

Consequences of Zika outbreaks could be ‘staggering’ says WHO as it advocates further trials and assessments for controversial mosquito control techniquesNew and potentially controversial techniques including releasing genetically modified or irradiated mosquitos could be deployed to hamper the spread of the Zika virus, according to a statement from the World Health Organisation (WHO) today.Zika is a disease transmitted by the Aedes aegypti mosquito. The disease originated in Africa, but in the last decade has spread to French Polynesia in the Pacific, and to Brazil and Colombia. More than 13 countries in the Americas have reported sporadic infections. Continue reading...

Stirling University study shows dams mitigate flooding by acting like a sponge, storing and then slowly releasing waterA population of beavers in Scotland that was blamed for flooding may actually be preventing it, a study has shown.Dams built by beavers in eastern Scotland act like a sponge, experts say, and mitigate flooding by storing and then slowly releasing water. Continue reading...

Whether you’re talking about appliances, cars or clothing, it’s true: they don’t make ’em like they used to. Here’s an easy way around a persistent problemWhen eight different people send me a link to the same website in the span of a week, I know I have to write about it.The site is called Buy Me Once. I’m in love, and I think the site and its mission are incredibly important. Continue reading...

Green campaigners say commission’s continued reliance on fossil fuel imports as part of sustainable energy security package is at odds with Paris climate dealThe future of Europe’s energy supply is to rely heavily on natural gas for the coming two decades and beyond, according to a new strategy set out on Tuesday by the European commission.