Research reveals area size of France is under threat by restoration projects taking place in unsuitable landscapes
Misguided tree-planting projects are threatening crucial ecosystems across Africa, scientists have warned.
Research has revealed that an area the size of France is threatened by forest restoration initiatives that are taking place in inappropriate landscapes.
Continue reading...Australian Platypus Conservancy says ‘it’s remarkable this animal is still doing as well as he is’
The biologist who first tagged a one-year-old platypus back in 2000 was astonished when it was recaptured last year, aged about 24, making it the oldest platypus found in the wild.
The director of the Australian Platypus Conservancy, Geoff Williams, has been researching the egg-laying mammals for decades, but said long-term research into the species can be expensive and rare.
Continue reading...‘We need to respond now,’ says author of study that says crucial forest has already passed safe boundary and needs restoration
Up to half of the Amazon rainforest could hit a tipping point by 2050 as a result of water stress, land clearance and climate disruption, a study has shown.
The paper, which is the most comprehensive to date in its analysis of the compounding impacts of local human activity and the global climate crisis, warned that the forest had already passed a safe boundary and urged remedial action to restore degraded areas and improve the resilience of the ecosystem.
Continue reading...Graham Usher urges Church of England to look into this ‘often very ancient land’, as it prepares to vote on increasing biodiversity
Churchyards should be rewilded to increase biodiversity and to make them “places of the living, not just the dead”, a Church of England bishop has said.
Local parishes are responsible for about 7,100 hectares (17,500 acres) of churchyards in England. The C of E also owns about 34,000 hectares of farmland, mostly let to tenant farmers, and 9,300 hectares of forestry.
Continue reading...The species can climb waterfalls and reaches back to Gondwanaland – but there are fears polluted runoff has proven fatal
A “miracle fish” may have been snuffed out in its Sydney habitat by bungled construction work at a nearby government high school, local environmentalists fear.
The climbing galaxias (Galaxias brevipinnis) belongs to a species line reaching back to Gondwanaland. It was only identified in the Manly Dam region in Sydney’s north – the fish’s most northerly known location in Australia – in 1998.
Continue reading...Exclusive: $9bn port, airport and military base on Great Nicobar Island will cause ‘genocide’ of isolated Shompen, academics warn
Academics from around the world have urged India to cancel a huge construction project on Great Nicobar Island, warning it would be “a death sentence” for the Shompen hunter-gatherer people who live there.
The $9bn (£7bn) port project, planned to transform the Indian Ocean island of 8,000 inhabitants into what has been called the “Hong Kong of India”, includes the construction of an international shipping terminal, airport, power plant, military base and industrial park. It will also develop tourism.
Continue reading...Ecologists condemn watchdog decision, accusing it of making reckless changes to allow easier logging of state forests containing glider habitat
NSW’s environmental watchdog has put the endangered greater glider on a fast track to extinction by watering down logging protections, experts say.
Ecologists from WWF-Australia and Wilderness Australia have condemned the watchdog, accusing it of making reckless changes so Forestry Corporation can more easily log state forests.
Continue reading...Delay to rules on setting aside land to encourage biodiversity offered as concession amid continuing protests
Farmers protesting across Europe have won their first concession from Brussels, with the EU announcing a delay in rules that would have forced them to set aside land to encourage biodiversity and soil health.
About 10,000 French farmers stepped up their protests on Wednesday, with at least 100 blockades on major roads across France, as 18 farmers were arrested for blocking traffic as they tried to reach the wholesale food market at Rungis, south-east of Paris and 79 others were detained after they managed to get inside.
Continue reading...Bob Brown Foundation wants logging banned in area of forest south of Hobart, claiming it is breeding habitat for endangered bird
Conservationists have won a temporary injunction to stop logging in an area of forest south of Hobart they say is breeding habitat for the critically endangered swift parrot.
The Tasmanian supreme court granted the injunction on Wednesday afternoon pending a hearing of the legal challenge brought by the Bob Brown Foundation.
Continue reading...Roads around Zeebrugge could be obstructed until midnight on Wednesday, hitting commercial trade
The Belgian port of Zeebrugge was blockaded on Tuesday, causing gridlock on surrounding roads as a wave of farmer protests spread across Europe.
Authorities at the North Sea port, one of the biggest in Europe, said all access roads were blocked by 5pm (1600 GMT) on Tuesday, in a demonstration that will hit commercial trade, including imports and exports of food to and from the UK, Ireland and Scandinavia.
Continue reading...Open letter calls for Soil Association certification to be removed from industry, amid concerns of negative environmental impact
The British body that certifies food in the UK as organic has been accused of misleading consumers over its labelling of Scottish farmed salmon.
Thirty charities, conservation and community organisations, including WildFish, the Pesticide Action Network and Blue Marine Foundation, say the negative environmental impacts of the industry in Scotland “run completely counter” to the principles of the Soil Association’s promotion of healthy, humane and sustainable food.
Continue reading...People encouraged to record sightings of mohican-sporting birds in RSPB’s Big Garden Birdwatch this weekend
The scale of this waxwing winter will be revealed this weekend when people are encouraged to spend an hour recording the birds they see in their gardens, balconies, parks and school grounds.
The spectacular migratory, mohican-sporting birds have been spotted across Britain during the colder weather and will be recorded alongside more familiar sparrows, blackbirds and robins in the RSPB’s annual Big Garden Birdwatch.
Continue reading...Hunting by Kenyan lions impeded in ‘ecological chain reaction’ as big-headed ants fail to stop elephants stripping acacia trees – the cats’ ambush cover
When a lion decides to chase down a zebra it seems as though nothing can stop it. But now researchers have discovered these enormous predators are being thwarted by a tiny foe: ants.
Scientists have found the spread of big-headed ants in east Africa sets off a situation leading to lions making fewer zebra kills.
Continue reading...The first successful embryo transfer in a southern white rhino paves the way for the technique to save their rarer northern cousins
The critically endangered northern white rhino could be saved from the brink of extinction after scientists performed the first successful embryo transfer in white rhinos.
After the last male northern white rhino, Sudan, died in 2018, the disappearance of the species looked imminent. Just two infertile female northern white rhinos – Fatu and Najin – remain, and are under 24-hour armed protection at a conservation reservation in Kenya. But a new scientific advancement means the mother and daughter may not be the last of their kind.
Continue reading...MEPs react to ‘tragic’ findings revealing UK falling behind EU in key environmental policies since Brexit
European lawmakers have lamented the UK’s decision to weaken environmental rules since leaving the EU, after the Guardian revealed it is falling behind in almost every policy area.
One Green group MEP said the findings were “tragic” while a centre-right MEP said the divergences were “particularly bad” for companies that want to do business on both sides of the Channel.
Continue reading...Exclusive: Britain is falling behind the bloc on almost every area of green regulation, analysis reveals
Vital legal protections for the environment and human health are being destroyed in post-Brexit departures from European legislation, a detailed analysis by the Guardian reveals.
The UK is falling behind the EU on almost every area of environmental regulation, as the bloc strengthens its legislation while the UK weakens it. In some cases, ministers are removing EU-derived environmental protections from the statute book entirely.
Water in the UK will be dirtier than in the EU.
There will be more pesticides in Britain’s soil.
Companies will be allowed to produce products containing chemicals that the EU has restricted for being dangerous.
EU-derived air pollution laws that will be removed under the retained EU law bill.
Dozens of chemicals banned in the EU are still available for use in the UK.
Thirty-six pesticides banned in the EU have not been outlawed in the UK.
The UK is falling behind on reducing carbon emissions as the EU implements carbon pricing.
The EU is compensating those who are struggling to afford the costs of the green transition, while the UK is not.
The EU is implementing stricter regulations on battery recycling, while the UK is not.
Deforestation is being removed from the EU supply chain, while the UK’s proposed scheme is more lax and does not come in until a year later.
Continue reading...Sea Ranger Service will offer the chance to carry out maintenance work and climate research on sailing vessels
A social enterprise has launched offering people between the ages of 18 and 29 the chance to protect the seas around the UK while getting paid.
The Sea Ranger Service (SRS) will offer young people the chance to sail out to sea and undertake vital work to conserve Britain’s oceans.
Continue reading...Scientists call for urgent intervention, as bearded pig populations are devastated by the deadly virus on islands such as Borneo
Populations of wild pigs are crashing due to the spread of African swine fever (ASF), threatening the livelihoods of millions who depend on them for food, researchers warn.
With a fatality rate of almost 100%, ASF has swept across Asia, Europe and Africa, devastating domestic and wild pig populations over the past 10 to 20 years. The impacts are especially significant in Borneo, in south-east Asia, where bearded pig numbers have declined by between 90% and 100% since it arrived on the island in 2021, researchers said.
Continue reading...TV presenter says he reported most recent threats ‘to harm you and your family’ to police
Chris Packham has been given a bodyguard while filming the latest series of BBC’s Winterwatch after “specific threats” were made against him.
The presenter has faced persistent abuse in recent years, including in 2011 an arson attack on his home.
Continue reading...Drought in Hwange national park was the cause of most of the deaths, and wildlife experts fear the climate crisis could make such events look normal
At least 160 elephants have died as drought conditions hit Zimbabwe, and with hot, dry weather likely to continue, conservationists fear there could be more deaths to come.
The elephants died between August and December last year in the 14,651 sq km Hwange national park, which is home to endangered elephants, buffalo, lions, cheetahs, giraffes and other species. At least six other elephants have recently been discovered dead outside the park in suspected poaching incidents.
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