Environment | The Guardian

Revealed: an investigation shows how consumers buying fish in the UK are playing a role in food insecurity and unemployment in SenegalRead more: Chris Packham calls sea bass labelling in UK supermarkets a dereliction of duty'At the entrance to the fish market in Joal-Fadiouth, a coastal town in central Senegal, a group of women have set up shop under the shade of a small pavilion. A few years ago, they say, the market would have been bustling with ice-cream sellers, salt vendors and horse-drawn carts delivering freshly caught fish to the women, who would set about sun-drying, salting and sorting the catch into affordable portions for local families to buy.Today, trade is dead, says Aissatou Wade, one of the remaining small-scale fish processors left in the town. Without fish [to sell], we have no money to send our children to school, buy food or get help if we fall ill," she says. Continue reading...

With more intense rain forecast, the SES has a fleet of 500 boats and nine helicopters trying to assist 48,000 people isolated in flood waters

Taree resident Phill Smith captured the moment a woman was rescued from flood waters, declaring the crew involved in the rescue 'definitely deserve an Australia Day just for themselves'. Unprecedented flooding has hit the New South Wales mid-north coast, with further rain predicted to come

Introduced from South America, mathenge was intended to halt desertification, but now three-quarters of the country is at risk of invasion by the invasive treeFor his entire life, John Lmakato has lived in Lerata, a village nestled at the foot of Mount Ololokwe in northern Kenya's Samburu county. This used to be a treeless land. Grass covered every inch of the rangelands, and livestock roamed freely," he says.Lmakato's livestock used to roam freely in search of pasture, but three years ago he lost 193 cattle after they wandered into a conservation area in Laikipia - known for the fight over land access between Indigenous pastoralists and commercial ranchers. Continue reading...

Australia should also make moves to address the climate impact of its fossil fuel production and exportsWatching from the western Pacific, we saw many describe Australia's recent election as a decisive moment for climate and energy policy. If that was the case, the people of Australia have spoken loud and clear.Like many of us in the Pacific had hoped, most Australians wanted to throw off the shackles of the last decade's climate wars" and usher in a new era of responsible climate and energy policy, one that harnesses the limitless potential of Australia's renewable energy superpowers and helps lead the Pacific region and the world to a safer and more prosperous climate future. Continue reading...

Residents describe anxious waits for rescue as unprecedented level of flooding strikes the Manning river

Researchers suggest buzzing noises could be used as environmentally friendly way to enhance crop pollinationPlants can hear" bees buzzing and serve up more nectar when they are nearby, scientists have found.The research suggests that plants are a more active partner than previously thought in their symbiotic relationship with pollinators. The behaviour could be a survival strategy that favours giving nectar and sugar to bees over so-called nectar robbers that do not offer plants any reproductive benefits. Continue reading...

Twenty-eight-year-old bear, who had been at Highland Wildlife Park since 2015, is euthanised on vets' adviceThe UK's oldest polar bear, and the first in the country to give birth to a cub in 25 years, has been put down because of age-related health problems.Victoria was 28 and had been kept in Highland Wildlife Park near Aviemore in the Scottish Highlands since 2015. Vets at the park took the decision to euthanise her on Tuesday morning after an assessment about her quality of life and wellbeing. Since December she had been receiving geriatric care after showing signs of arthritis. Continue reading...

Over breakfast at Tom's Restaurant, right below the historic Giss lab, James Hansen calls Doge's decision a big mistake'Perched above the New York City diner made famous by the TV show Seinfeld, Tom's Restaurant, a small research laboratory became, improbably, crucial to humanity's understanding of our changing climate and of the universe itself.Now, it is being shut down by Donald Trump's administration. Continue reading...

Developer shrinks five-year investment plans by 3bn blaming policy and planning delaysOne of the UK's biggest energy developers will cut its planned spending on new renewables projects in a blow to the government's 2030 clean power targets.SSE warned that it would be unlikely to meet its own renewable energy goals for the end of the decade after shrinking its five-year spending plans by 3bn to 17.5bn. Continue reading...

Case came to supreme court after court of appeal determined the term open-air recreation' included campingWild camping will be allowed on Dartmoor after the supreme court ruled that a multimillionaire landowner was wrong to ban it on his land.Dartmoor was - until the legal action - the only place in England where wild camping without the permission of the landowner was enshrined in law. In Scotland, people have enjoyed this right since 2003. Continue reading...

International Energy Agency says it is time to sound alarm' over future shortages of metal needed for low-carbon transitionDemand for copper, needed for the transition to a low-carbon world, will outstrip supply within the next decade, according to the global energy watchdog.Supplies of the metal, a key component of every form of electrical energy system at present, will fall 30% short of the amount required by 2035 if nothing is done, analysis by the International Energy Agency predicts. Continue reading...

Burning, worsened by global heating, overtook farming and logging as biggest cause of destruction of tropical forestsThe destruction of the world's forests reached the highest level ever recorded in 2024, driven by a surge in fires caused by global heating, according to frightening" new data.From the Brazilian Amazon to the Siberian taiga, Earth's forests disappeared at a record rate last year, losing an area the size of Italy to agriculture, fires, logging and mining, according to analysis from the University of Maryland hosted on Global Forest Watch. Continue reading...

Doug Burgum defends Trump budget slashing green funds, saying AI and Iran pose bigger threatsThe US has plenty of time" to solve the climate crisis," the interior secretary, Doug Burgum, told a House committee on Tuesday.The comment came on his first of two days of testimony to House and Senate appropriators in which he defended Donald Trump's proposed budget, dubbed the one big, beautiful bill", that would extend tax reductions enacted during Trump's first term, while cutting $5bn of funding for the Department of the Interior. Continue reading...

Dom Phillips' posthumously published book is an urgent reminder of why this unique landscape matters so muchIt doesn't start for six months, but the build-up to the UN's annual climate conference is already well under way in Brazil. Hosting the tens of thousands of delegates who make the trip is a big undertaking for any city. But the decision to host Cop30 in Belem, at the mouth of the Amazon river, has multiplied the complications.After three consecutive Cops in autocratic nations, the stated aim of Cop30's chair, Andre Aranha Correa do Lago, is to make this year's event a showcase for civil society, including the Indigenous groups and forest defenders who play such a vital role in conservation. But the lack of affordable accommodation and other infrastructure, as well as the distance that must be travelled to reach the Amazon port, mean this commendable ideal will be hard to realise.Do you have an opinion on the issues raised in this article? If you would like to submit a response of up to 300 words by email to be considered for publication in our letters section, please click here.How to Save the Amazon by Dom Phillips (Manilla, 22). To support the Guardian, order your copy at guardianbookshop.com. Delivery charges may apply. Continue reading...

Study shows firms in Colorado, including Chevron, have pumped 30m lbs of chemicals in 18 months without meeting all disclosure rulesColorado oil and gas companies have pumped at least 30m lbs of secret chemicals into the ground over the past 18 months without making legally required disclosures, according to a new analysis.That's in spite of first-in-the-nation rules requiring operators and their suppliers to list all chemicals used in drilling and extraction, while also banning any use of Pfas forever chemicals" at oil and gas sites. Since the transparency law took effect in July 2023, operators have fracked 1,114 sites across the state, but as of 1 May chemical disclosures have not been filed for 675 of them - more than 60% of the total, the analysis says. Continue reading...

BP has funded Washington's National Gallery of Art, UK's Royal Shakespeare Company and National Portrait GalleryOil interests have funded cultural institutions such as museums, youth organizations and athletic groups in recent years, new research shows, in what appears to be a public relations effort to boost their image amid growing public awareness of the climate crisis.Top US fossil fuel lobby group the American Petroleum Institute (API) sponsored a 2017 workshop for the Pennsylvania Girl Scouts, featuring activities that mimicked work in the energy industry". Energy giant BP in 2016 sponsored Washington DC's National Gallery of Art and continues to fund the British Museum in London. And in 2019, Shell sponsored the golf event the Houston Open for the 26th time. Continue reading...

Simon Stiell says investors ready to hit the go button' if they have the right signals from governmentsThe climate crisis has raised the price of commodities and exacerbated famine - and only strong action on greenhouse gas emissions can restore economic stability, the UN's climate chief has said.Simon Stiell, the executive secretary of the UN framework convention on climate change, was speaking in Panama, where recent years of drought drove the water to perilous lows that disrupted international trade. Continue reading...

Governor lobbied Trump in a series of phone calls, and will now allow new gas pipeline capacity to move forward

The pandemic and harsh laws suffocated climate movements as we knew them. Get ready for a new kind of actionOn 21 April 2019, I was on Waterloo Bridge in London with my younger siblings. Around us were planters full of flowers where there were once cars, and people singing. This was the spring iteration of Extinction Rebellion, when four bridges in London were held by protesters. My siblings, then 14, had been going out on school strike inspired by Greta Thunberg, and wanted to see her speak.We were there for less than a day, but the occupations of bridges and other blockades lasted for 11 days. Tens of thousands of people mobilised in the UK that spring. An estimated 500,000 people were affected by the shutdowns the movement imposed on central London's road networks, and more than 1,000 protesters were arrested in what was then an official part of XR's strategy. Continue reading...

Newborns seen in colder waters as far south as Tasmania, indicating breeding and migration more complex than thought

It remains unclear why the monkeys, filmed on a Panamanian island, were taking the babies from another speciesScientists have spotted surprising evidence of what they describe as monkey kidnappings while reviewing video footage from a small Panamanian island. Capuchin monkeys were seen carrying at least 11 howler babies between 2022 and 2023.This was very much a shocking finding," said Zoe Goldsborough, a behavioural ecologist at the Max Planck Institute of Animal Behavior in Germany. We've not seen anything like this in the animal kingdom." Continue reading...

Scientists have spotted surprising evidence of what they describe as monkey kidnappings while reviewing video footage from a small Panamanian island. Capuchin monkeys were seen carrying at least 11 howler babies between 2022 and 2023. The footage showed the capuchins walking and pounding their stone tools with baby howlers on their backs. But cameras did not capture the moments of abduction, which scientists said likely happened up in the trees, where howlers spend most of their time Continue reading...

Researchers are deploying sniffing dogs to combat spread of leaf-hopping pests that can damage trees and fruit cropsThe spotted lanternfly, a leaf-hopping invasive pest first detected in the US a decade ago, has steadily spread across the East coast and into the midwest with little getting in its way.But now researchers are deploying a new weapon to slow its advance: specially trained dogs with the ability to sniff out the winged insect's eggs before they hatch. Continue reading...

Report finds Nestle used purification treatments that were unauthorised for natural mineral waterFrance's lucrative mineral water industry is under scrutiny after a report by the senate found the French government had covered up a scandal over illegal filtering treatments of premium brands.At the heart of the report, released on Monday, is France's world-famous fizzy water, Perrier. Obtained from a source in southern France and traditionally served on ice with a slice of lemon, Perrier has long been long known as the champagne of table waters". Continue reading...

Introduced bees could be harming native species and risk driving them to extinction, researchers say

How fast we cut climate pollution will define how safe or scary the world becomes as our children grow upAt its core, the most fundamental duty of any government is to safeguard the security and wellbeing of its people. The climate crisis is hitting Australians hard.Right now, farmers in South Australia and Victoria are battling drought, while Queensland farmers pick up the pieces after heartbreaking floods. Globally, 2024 was the hottest year on record and the first time average temperatures surged 1.5C above preindustrial levels. We are living through longer, deadlier heatwaves, devastating bushfires, more frequent and intense floods, and rising sea levels that threaten coastal communities. Continue reading...

Clichy-Batignolles, in the city's north-west, is emblematic of the 15-minute' city approach to urban planning Continue reading...

Analysis suggests there could be 500,000 additional plug-in hybrid electric cars on Britain's roads by 2030The UK government's weakening of rules on electric car sales is likely to result in significantly more carbon emissions as sales of plug-in hybrids rise, according to analysis.Relaxed rules could result in as many as 500,000 additional plug-in hybrid electric vehicles (PHEVs) on UK roads by 2030, according to modelling by T&E, a campaign group on transport and the environment. PHEVs combine a small battery with a polluting petrol engine and tend to be much more profitable than pure battery electric cars. Continue reading...

Energy retailer says carbon offsetting not the most effective way' to reduce emissions

In January I journeyed to the iron ore-rich region of Western Australia with Guardian Australia senior correspondent Sarah Martin and senior audio producer Joe Koning to provide the visuals for our series on Gina Rinehart, Gina: power, privilege and influence. Here's a selection of my shots

During the McCarthy era's darkest days, public lands came under attack. History now repeats itself - and this may be the last chance to defend what's oursIn 1913, on a remote, windswept stretch of buffalo-grass prairie in western North Dakota, Roald Peterson was born - the ninth of 11 children to hardy Norwegian homesteaders.The child fell in love with the ecosystem he was born into. It was a landscape as awe-inspiring and expansive as the ocean, with hawks riding sage-scented winds by day and the Milky Way glowing at night. Continue reading...

Investigation shows ageing assets and lack of funding could mean entire towns and villages vulnerable to floodingLives may be at risk if ministers proceed with cuts to England's languishing canal network, experts have said.The climate crisis and a lack of funding means ageing assets could flood entire towns and villages, an investigation for the parliamentary magazine the House has found. Continue reading...

The San Rafael valley in Arizona is home to bears, mountain lions and wolves - now their movement will be restrictedDonald Trump is forging ahead with a new section of border wall that will threaten wildlife in a remote area where many rare animals - but very few people - roam.Customs and Border Protection (CBP) has invited private sector companies to bid for contracts to erect nearly 25 miles of barrier on the US-Mexico border, across the unwalled San Rafael Valley south of Tucson, Arizona, one of the most biodiverse regions in the US. Continue reading...

Labour has allowed climate action to become synonymous with hardship. Farage's Reform is exploiting that - but we offer real solutions

Thousands have been displaced and conservation work halted as series of killings jeopardises decades of work in Niassa, one of Africa's biggest protected areasOne of Africa's largest protected areas has been shaken by a series of attacks by Islamic State-linked extremists, which have left at least 10 people dead.Conservationists in Niassa reserve, Mozambique, say decades of work to rebuild populations of lions, elephants and other keystone species are being jeopardised, as conservation operations grind to a halt. Continue reading...

Perfect' weather conditions produce berries that growers say are between 10% and 20% bigger than usualThe UK's sunny spring weather has provided perfect" conditions to produce strawberries so big you cannot fit them in your mouth", UK growers have said.With nearly 20 years' experience, Bartosz Pinkosz, the operations director at the Summer Berry Company, has never seen anything like it". The strawberries being harvested this month by the leading grower are whoppers thanks to the combination of lots of sunshine and cool nights. Continue reading...

Fire in black sheoak forest of East Gippsland would destroy the birds' food supply, conservationist says

Downsizing at Climeworks comes amid economic uncertainty and reduced momentum' for climate techA Swiss startup that has led the way in sucking carbon out of the air has announced plans to cut its workforce by more than 10% amid economic uncertainty and reduced momentum" for climate tech.The downsizing at Climeworks, the company that built the world's first direct air capture facilities, comes one week after journalists in Iceland revealed its two flagship plants have captured far less carbon than their advertised capacity. A spokesperson said the timing of the redundancies was unrelated. Continue reading...

Familia Torres has been making wine in Catalonia since 1870, but says it may have to move to higher altitudes in 30 years' timeA leading European winemaker has warned it may have to abandon its ancestral lands in Catalonia in 30 years' time because climate change could make traditional growing areas too dry and hot.Familia Torres is already installing irrigation at its vineyards in Spain and California and is planting vines on land at higher altitudes as it tries to adapt to more extreme conditions. Continue reading...

Rebekah Shaman, of Protect Brockwell Park, took action against Lambeth council over number of large-scale eventsA campaigner who argued that music festivals held in a south London park unfairly cut off large sections of the space and made it a mud bath" has won a court case that could result in events being banned there this summer.The Protect Brockwell Park (PBP) group, which includes the actor Mark Rylance, complained about walls being erected in the park, and noise and environmental damage, leading to a tense debate about the use of public space, nimbyism and the importance of summer cultural events. Continue reading...

Parks, trees and green spaces are critical to kids' health and wellbeing, but in many cities, residents have unequal accessOn a recent Saturday morning at Washington Elementary Stem magnet school in Pasadena, California, a group of volunteers and staffers from Amigos de los Rios hauled soil for a new pollinator garden of native plants that support local habitats such as those for butterflies, hummingbirds and bees. They also filled up 37 planter beds that will grow fresh veggies such as carrots and sweet potatoes for students to eat.Before the local non-profit began this work, the Title I school - which is primarily attended by Latino and Black students from low-income households - had been largely paved, lacked trees and had one wooden playhouse that kids would patiently wait their turn to play inside to take refuge from the sun. Continue reading...

Firm prosecuted after unapproved material in tanks led to flakes and powder entering drinking water of 1.3m peopleAnglian Water has been fined a record 1.42m for contaminating the water supply.The company, which covers the east of England, received the fine at Northampton crown court after a prosecution brought by the Drinking Water Inspectorate (DWI) for failures that affected 1.3 million people. Continue reading...

Some have speculated there is a link, but it's too soon to say, one expert says, with toxicology results expected to reveal more soon

Researchers call for investment in circular solutions' as consumption rises faster than growth in populationGlobal recycling rates are failing to keep pace with a culture focused on infinite economic growth and consumerism, with the proportion of recycled materials re-entering supply chains falling for the eighth year running, according to a new report.Only 6.9% of the 106bn tonnes of materials used annually by the global economy came from recycled sources, a 2.2 percentage point drop since 2015, researchers from the Circle Economy thinktank found. Continue reading...

Murray Watt is also considering ditching the nature positive' title for Labor's overhaul of the Environmental Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act

The best of this week's wildlife photographs from around the world Continue reading...

In Melbourne, 14C was the forecast maximum for Saturday, with a high chance of showers, the BoM says

For 1,500 years, Mexico's Mixtec people have extracted ink from the rare purpura snail to dye yarn. But they fear the species - and their rich tradition - may soon be lost for ever

West Coast Game Park Safari, popular attraction that has more than 450 animals, accused of multiple violationsA dead tiger, left in a freezer for months. Starving lions and leopards. Animals dying without medical attention. One full-time staffer feeding over 300 animals. According to police and USDA inspection reports, that's the state of affairs at Oregon's West Coast Game Park Safari.State police served multiple search warrants at the south Oregon property on Thursday as part of a lengthy" criminal investigation. The park is a regional attraction, with over 450 animals across 75 species, and has been in operation since 1969. USDA reports in recent years have noted consistent violations. Continue reading...