Parks and wildlife authority says cyanide used to kill three animals in Matusadona, and 11 in Hwange, with tusks cut off in some casesFourteen elephants have been poisoned by cyanide in Zimbabwe, two years after poachers killed more than 200 elephants by poisoning, the National Parks and Wildlife Management Authority said.Three elephants were killed in Matusadona national park in northern Zimbabwe and 11 more were found dead in two different spots in Hwange national park in western Zimbabwe over the past two weeks, the authority announced on Tuesday. Continue reading...

Board member says Volkswagen faces multibillion-euro bill in emissions-rigging scandal and anything not economical will be questionedThe new chief executive of Volkswagen has warned the carmaker’s staff that the fallout from the diesel emissions scandal “won’t be painless” and that the company needs to make “massive savings” as it faces the prospect of a multibillion-euro bill.Matthias Müller told a gathering of 20,000 workers at VW’s headquarters in Wolfsburg that “every euro that stays in the company helps us”. Continue reading...

Linda Martinez, 62, believed to have drowned in caravan when river flooded campsite near Antibes where she was staying with husbandA British woman killed in the flooding in southern France at the weekend has been named as Linda Martinez.The 62-year-old from Lancashire is believed to have drowned when a river flowing past the campsite where she was staying with her husband burst its banks. Continue reading...

Anonymous source says Thomas Nilsen, who had extensively covered oil drilling in the Arctic, was sacked at the behest of the Russian intelligenceA Norwegian Arctic newspaper editor who has extensively covered oil drilling in the region was sacked at the behest of the Russian intelligence service, according to Norway’s public service broadcaster.Thomas Nilsen told the Guardian he had no reason to disbelieve the report from the Norwegian Broadcasting Corporation (NRK), and that it would be awful if it were true that the FSB, Russia’s security agency, was involved. Continue reading...

Amateur drone operator Jamien Hudson captured this footage of two whales swimming next to a paddleboarder off the coast of Esperance in Western Australia last month. When Hudson heard there were whales off the beach, he rushed down with his drone equipment. At the same time, local Dave Price was paddleboarding out to take a look at the marine mammals, believed to be southern right whales Continue reading...

In a bid to protect their land, the indigenous people are challenging the Morales government over decrees opening up protected areas for oil and gas explorationThe history of Bolivia’s Guaraní, an indigenous people living in the country’s southern lowlands, is one of struggle in defence of their territory. In 1892, an uprising against local landowners ended with the massacre of more than 2,000 Guaraní. A century later, Guaraní activists confronted oil companies seeking to exploit the riches buried under their homeland of the Bolivian Chaco.Now they are preparing to fight on a new front. On 24 September, three Guaraní leaders travelled from the dry heat of lowland Chaco to the chill mountain air of La Paz to deliver a legal petition to the country’s constitutional court, challenging a series of energy decrees passed by the government of President Evo Morales. Continue reading...

Ornithologists say three pairs of the peregrine falcon are known to be breeding in the archipelago for the first time since the 1980sThe return of the peregrine falcon to Malta, known to some as the “Maltese falcon”, has excited hopes that the iconic bird is making a comeback.At least one breeding pair was caught on film last week by a German-based NGO, Campaign Against Bird Slaughter (CABS), and according to local experts there may now be as many as three pairs of breeding peregrine falcons on the Maltese archipelago for the first time since the 1980s. Continue reading...

In addition to mitigating the emissions that cause climate change, conserving tropical forests contributes to development in myriad waysForests are undervalued assets in meeting the twin global challenges of our time: achieving prosperity and safeguarding climate stability. It’s time we gave them the attention – and finance – that they deserve.Last week, dozens of countries announced a late-breaking wave of commitments to reduce greenhouse gas emissions ahead of the climate change summit in Paris this November. While such pledges are welcome, they are not yet sufficient to avert catastrophic global warming. Tropical forests provide an opportunity to close the gap. Continue reading...

From locating leaky pipes with acoustic listening to reusing wastewater, Western Australia’s capital is using technology to bridge the water gapPerth, the capital of Western Australia, is not only one of the most isolated cities in the world, it is also becoming one of the driest in Australia.

International Renewable Energy Agency report says the continent has the potential to quadruple the proportion of its energy supplied by renewables, reports BusinessGreenAlmost a quarter of Africa’s energy needs could feasibly be supplied by renewables within the next 15 years, according to a new report released by the International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA) yesterday.The report, which provides a roadmap for renewable energy deployment on the continent, found that a variety of modern renewable technology options could more than quadruple the contribution of renewables to Africa’s energy mix compared to the five per cent used in 2013, taking renewables share to 22 per cent of the mix. Continue reading...

Company is still using fish aggregation devices in its fishing fleet despite a promise in 2011 that 100% of its tuna would be sustainable by 2016John West has been accused of breaking a promise to consumers by continuing to use “destructive” fishing methods to catch tuna.

As violence erupts in the capital, plans for the country’s first major solar plant bring hope to thousands whose lives will be transformed by electricityWhen entrepreneurs and government ministers signed a deal for the first major solar power plant in Burundi, the future of this energy-crippled nation seemed full of promise. A day later, gunfire filled the streets and buildings were set ablaze as a renegade army general attempted a coup.Such are the peculiar challenges of harnessing renewable energy in one of the more unstable corners of Africa. “We were so excited,” recalled Lazare Sebitereko, programme manager in Burundi for the solar and social development company Gigawatt Global. “It was upsetting because we wanted to get on with our programme. We didn’t stop completely but it’s slow compared to what we expected.” Continue reading...

18-month-old Kebaco and mother Ah Foo are re-released into the wild after their rescue from an oil palm plantation prior to the harvest that destroyed their home Continue reading...

For the first time, Strava – an app best known for letting athletes track and compare their activities – has released data that filters ‘commute’ cycle rides, creating maps that offer an insight into how city-dwellers ride to work. See below for exclusive images of the more than 30m activities uploaded in the last year across 12 key global cities, or explore Strava Insights here Continue reading...

We must prepare for climate change now if we want to achieve the global goal of making cities and human settlements inclusive, safe, resilient and sustainableMaking cities and human settlements inclusive, safe, resilient and sustainable is now a global goal following the adoption of the post-2015 development agenda in New York in September. Achieving this target – sustainable development goal 11 – is vital because, for the first time in our history, more people live in cities than live in the countryside. And it is urgent because a third of the urban population lives in slums, mostly located on hazardous land, with poor access to basic services, and few opportunities to earn a decent living.Another huge challenge is that urban areas mostly develop along coasts and rivers, making many city dwellers vulnerable to the effects of climate change. This has led to a growing discussion on how to make cities resilient to flooding, rising sea levels, heatwaves and other harmful results of our changing climate. However these discussions are not yet taking place on a practical level, and there is no blueprint for immediate action. Continue reading...

Qi Ye, director of public policy centre in Beijing, says China is showing ‘global leadership’ on climate change and it will look to clean energy technologiesChina may aim for an earlier greenhouse gas emissions peak before its 2030 deadline, putting a greater onus on Australia to work with its key trading partner on renewable energy rather than fossil fuels, says a leading Chinese analyst.

A drone films extensive flooding in the US state of South Carolina on Monday. The unprecedented rainfall has resulted in nine deaths, more than 500 road and bridge closures and hundreds of rescues of people trapped in homes and cars by the rising water. Scientists claim climate change has exacerbated the bad weather Continue reading...

Watership Down, Hampshire Brave, then, the creature that tries to pluck the nut from between the wires. But brave this wood mouse isHead dipped in shining black oil and marinated in nervousness, a marsh tit has started coming to the feeder for the first time since last winter. Until now it would have been in the wet beech and ash woods that cover the steep north face of the chalk down; an example of the anciently named “hangers” so beloved of Gilbert White.But in this corner of the downs a cold snap has brought the marsh tit to the closely wired nuts hanging from the wall of the stone smokehouse. Continue reading...

Bandicoot-like rodent with long hind limbs, huge ears, a pointed face and a flat nose found in a remote mountainous area of Sulawesi IslandRelated: Sneezing monkey and walking fish among new species discovered in HimalayasVictorian scientists have discovered a new mammal, the hog-nosed rat, with features not been seen by science before. Continue reading...

Concrete channel, three years in the making and 300 metres long, will help engineers develop better protection from floodingStudying the oceans is a matter of survival for the below-sea-level-dwelling Dutch, and scientists in the Netherlands have now unveiled the world’s biggest manmade wave to prepare for the worst.“Here we can test what happens if enormous waves hit our dykes,” said infrastructure minister Melanie Schultz van Haegen as she inaugurated the giant wave machine in the city of Delft on Monday. Continue reading...

The plastic bag levy will damage the environment unless the alternatives have impeccable environmental attributes – and most of them don’t (New plastic bag tax does not go far enough, say campaigners, 5 October).The exemptions alone will undermine most of the putative savings. Not only that, but, if we had a better waste-disposal system using efficient combined heat and power incinerators, we could capture the energy from the “borrowed oil” which plastic bags represent. Only 5% of crude oil is used to make all of the plastics we use, and plastic bags are only about 5% of that. A single car trip to the supermarket each week wastes more energy and creates more pollution than a dozen plastic bags. Continue reading...

Mark Carney warns that climate change will lead to financial crises and falling living standards unless companies (have to) come clean about their current and future carbon emissions (Report, 30 September). In the same issue George Monbiot notes that there is water flowing on Mars and asks if there is intelligent life on Earth. Monbiot also reminds us the world has lost half of its vertebrate wildlife in the last 40 years. It’s surely no coincidence that the human population has doubled in our lifetime (we were born in the 1940s). Sadly, population control seems to have become an issue that we are reluctant to discuss.As biologists, we know that great population growth of a species is frequently ended by a cataclysmic population crash. Is that what we want? Climate change is being driven not just by what we do but by the sheer numbers of us doing it. We are already seeing crop failures, desertification, soil impoverishment and water shortages. Continue reading...

Expert in the forecast and control of locust plaguesLocust plagues are at least as old as recorded history. The desert locust is the locust of the Qur’an and the Bible’s eighth plague of Egypt; they have probably been insect pests since man first began to grow crops. When, in the late 1980s, swarms of desert locusts extended from Mauritania and Senegal to the Persian Gulf, Joyce Magor, who has died aged 82, was sent to Dakar as a locust forecaster to help international efforts to control the swarms that were threatening farming livelihoods in the Sahel region.This was the first plague in nearly 40 years – and African countries were unprepared and highly vulnerable. Donors were faced with providing nearly $300m in emergency aid to cope with the crisis. The plague, which declined in early 1989, triggered an extensive international effort to develop improved methods to predict the size of locust populations locusts and more environmentally sensitive ways to control them. Continue reading...

It’s boom time in the fields thanks to Halloween. Might this be a good time to think about the agricultural revolution taking place?Giant globes of orange scattered on the East Anglian soil resemble extraterrestrial eggs, glowing in the autumn sunshine.Related: From pumpkins to policies: engaging in sustainable food behaviour Continue reading...

A Colorado nonprofit funds and supports new businesses looking to improve energy access in developing countriesA few years ago, engineers Morgan DeFoort and Jason Prapas were creating clean cookstoves for use in the developing world. Today, they lead a far broader multimillion-dollar effort to bring better energy services to some of the world’s poorest communities.Colorado-based Factor(E) is what DeFoort and Prapas call a “venture development firm”: part seed investor, part accelerator and part business advisor. It aims to nurture young businesses with the potential to improve energy access in developing countries. Continue reading...

High numbers of elk, deer, boar and wolves show long-term effect of world’s worst nuclear accident is less damaging than everyday human activity, say scientistsWildlife is abundant around the site of the Chernobyl nuclear plant, despite the presence of radiation released by the world’s most catastrophic nuclear explosion nearly three decades ago, researchers have found.The number of elk, deer and wild boar within the Belarusian half of the Chernobyl exclusion zone today are around the same as those in four nearby uncontaminated nature reserves. Continue reading...

Hundreds of new(ish) species have been discovered in the eastern Himalayas in recent years, including the ‘walking’ fish and a tissue-wielding, snub-nosed primateName: The sneezing monkey.Age: Depends what you mean. Continue reading...

Draft text of climate deal is cut down from more than 90 pages to just 20 pages in boost for international talks on cutting carbon emissions after 2020A new draft of the potential global agreement on climate change, to be negotiated this December in Paris, has been published by the United Nations.

A mid-flight bird fight and flowers on a Himalayan pass are among images capturing this year’s theme of conflict and survival. The winners will be announced at the Royal Society of Biology Awards Ceremony in London on 15 October, as part of Biology Week Continue reading...

Plans put forward by the local people will ban fishing in over 600,000 sq km of the Pacific oceanChile will create one of the world’s biggest marine parks around the Pacific waters of Easter Island, president Michelle Bachelet said on Monday.If the island’s indigenous Rapa Nui people approve the plan after a consultation by the mainland government, fishing will be banned from a 631,368 sq km (243,630 sq miles) area – though still allowed up to 50m out for local fishermen – in an effort to stem illegal fishing. Continue reading...

Despite dire warnings, our reporter fails to uncover chaotic scenes on our high streets, and even manages to acquire a few free bagsEdinburgh, Cardiff and Belfast seemed to manage perfectly well with a 5p bag charge, but Monday’s Daily Mail predicts “chaos” because retail staff could struggle with the complex rules.As Monday marks the start of the charge for plastic bags in England, is there panic on the streets? We got our 5p pieces ready and ventured out to the shops. Continue reading...

A dementia research centre at UCL will receive millions as Asda, Morrisons, Iceland and Waitrose pledge carrier bag moneyFour of the UK’s biggest supermarkets have announced they will put proceeds from the 5p carrier bag charge into a single fund to fight dementia.Asda, Iceland, Morrisons and Waitrose have pledged funds from the levy on single-use carrier bags to support the construction of a world-class dementia research centre at UCL in London. Continue reading...

A deadly ‘once in a millennium’ deluge triggered by hurricane Joaquin has battered large swaths of the east coast Continue reading...

The issue is too pressing to wait for action at federal and international levels. Small communities can – and must – actAs state and federal governments continue to fail at halting climate change at the global and national levels, smaller communities have a great opportunity to take change-making initiative. Without assistance from national governments, municipal environmental groups have set up their own local peer-to-peer networks, and indigenous communities like the Lubicon Cree First Nation have reclaimed tar sands for solar. Supporting the expansion of such projects from one community to another could be the key for rapid and inclusive action, and this grassroots domino effect could make it less likely that climate action is an elitist and expensive imposition.In my small village of Sleepy Hollow, New York, I’m trying to put us on the map for something other than fictional horror stories, looking at these existing initiatives where other small communities are already taking the lead on climate action in the face of higher-level indifference and even pushback. Continue reading...

Shoppers must now pay 5p for plastic carrier bags in England. There is more to gain from this inconvenience than just using up your collection under the sinkWales managed, Scotland managed, but it remains to be seen whether or not the English are able to cope with having to pay 5p for plastic bags when out shopping, as charges are introduced today.Plastic Bag Chaos Looms predicts the Daily Mail – which has, ironically, been lobbying for charges since 2008 – as some of the exemptions to the rules are deemed “too confusing” for shoppers. (If by confusing you mean relatively straightforward with a few notable exemptions.) Companies with under 250 employees need not charge and some items, such as uncooked chicken, flowers, live goldfish, axeheads and prescription medication (all of which could combine to make quite the Saturday night) are exempt from the charging, except whenever these goods are purchased with non-exempt items. Granted, the regulations require a smidge more mental exertion that their Welsh and Scottish counterparts, but surely this nation of shopkeepers can manage to forebear these stressful changes with the same meek acceptance they deploy for all other regulations imposed from above? Continue reading...

Photographs from the Eyewitness series Continue reading...

US-Senegalese rapper Akon has launched an ambitious energy project in Africa. But will it be as successful as his music?As night falls across Africa bustling cities light up and neighbourhoods begin to buzz, fed by traffic from well-lit roads. In the countryside, meanwhile, villages are plunged into darkness, shutting down the night-time economies of rural communities as restaurants and shops close and children light candles to do their homework.Related: Eight ways to reach 100% renewable in developing countries Continue reading...

Shoppers in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland have survived the introduction of the charge. Here’s how to navigate the rules in England