Category Archives: Environment

Nigerian communities to take Shell to high court over oil pollution

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Residents of Bille and Ogale in Niger delta are suing Shell and subsidiary, but company denies liability

Residents of two Nigerian communities who are taking legal action against Shell over oil pollution are set to take their cases to trial at the high court in 2027.

Members of the Bille and Ogale communities in the Niger delta, which have a combined population of about 50,000, are suing Shell and a Nigerian-based subsidiary of the company, the Shell Petroleum Development Company of Nigeria, which is now the Renaissance Africa Energy Company.

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Amber heat alert issued across England with warning of ‘rise in deaths’

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UKHSA warns of risk to people aged 65 and over as temperatures of up to 33C expected until Monday

Amber heat alerts have been issued in England as the UK experiences its hottest day of the year so far, with a temperature of 30.8C recorded at Wisley in Surrey.

The UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) issued the warningd on Thursday, and stated there could be “a rise in deaths” across all nine English regions, with “those aged 65 and over or people with health conditions” particularly at risk as the temperature is expected to rise sharply.

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Lithuanian hunters refuse to kill bear that ambled around capital for two days

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Government issued permit to shoot young female who entered Vilnius, despite only small number left in Baltic country

A young female bear caused a stir after wandering out of the forest and into the leafy suburbs of the Lithuanian capital.

For two days, the brown bear ambled through the neighbourhoods of Vilnius, trotted across highways and explored backyards – all while being chased by onlookers with smartphones and, eventually, drones.

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Flavour of gin and tonic could be impacted by climate change, study finds

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Volatile weather patterns may be altering taste of juniper berries – a key botanical in the spirit – scientists say

The flavour of a gin and tonic may be impacted by climate change, scientists have found.

Volatile weather patterns, made more likely by climate breakdown, could change the taste of juniper berries, which are the key botanical that give gin its distinctive taste.

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Female baboons with strong relationship to fathers found to live longer

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Study suggests role of male parents may be under-appreciated in some primate species

If male baboons were subject to the same kind of cultural commentary as humans, the phrase “deadbeat dads” might be called for, such is the primate’s relatively limited involvement in raising their young.

But a study suggests that even their little effort might go a long way, with female baboons who experience a stronger relationship with their fathers when young tending to live longer as adults.

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Murray Watt ‘personally lobbied’ Unesco over barring of WA rock art from world heritage list

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The environment minister says the report on the Murujuga petroglyphs has been ‘clearly influenced’ by environment campaigners

Australia’s environment minister, Murray Watt, has lobbied national Unesco ambassadors in a bid to overturn a recommendation that ancient rock art in Western Australia’s north-west should not receive world heritage listing unless nearby industrial facilities shut down.

Delegations from the Australian government and the Murujuga Aboriginal Corporation, a body established to represent five traditional Indigenous language groups, plan to attend a Unesco meeting in Paris next month to argue for an immediate world heritage listing for the Murujuga cultural landscape.

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Dangerous pesticides and pet flea treatment detected in English rivers for first time

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Exclusive: Wensum and Tone found to have high concentrations of chemicals that are toxic to aquatic life

Dangerous modern pesticides used in agriculture and pet flea treatment have been detected for the first time in English rivers, research has found.

Scientists have called for stricter regulation around high-risk farming pesticides and flea treatments for pets because of the deadly effects they have on fish and other aquatic life when they make their way into rivers.

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Ant no stopping us now: insect with potent bite continues march across US

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Experts say Asian needle ant ‘not especially dangerous’ but warn some people have gone into anaphylaxis

Last year, Dan Suiter, a professor of urban entomology at the University of Georgia, received at least three calls from people who had been stung by an Asian needle ant – or knew someone who had been – and went into anaphylaxis, an allergic reaction that can be life-threatening.

While there is no new evidence on the continued spread of the ants in the US – detected now in 20 US states – Suiter and his colleagues are determined to raise public awareness of the risks the species poses.

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Weather tracker: France reels from deadly thunderstorms and lightning

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Cold drop, upper-air trough and heat dome combine to create severe weather and 85mm hailstone

Severe thunderstorms swept across France last Friday, killing one person and injuring another. Two systems were involved, prompting orange weather warnings: the first came from the west via Brittany and hit the north of the country, and the second arrived via Spain and affected south-west France.

More than 30,000 lightning strikes were recorded between midnight on Friday and early Saturday. Eure, north of Paris, was worst hit with 4,326 strikes. Strong winds lashed Normandy – Rouen recorded a 76mph (123km)/h) gust that broke the 64mph record set in 2019. Hail affected several areas, leading to infrastructure and crop damage.

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Deadly algal bloom in South Australia’s Coorong an environmental ‘eye opener’, ecologist says

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Among the dead in the internationally significant wetland are estuarine snails, shore crabs, baby flounder and ‘a thick stew of polychaete worms’

When South Australia’s algal bloom arrived in the Coorong, it stained the water like strong tea before turning it into a slurry of dead worms.

Many had hoped the storm in late May would break up the bloom of Karenia mikimotoi algae, which has killed more than 200 different marine species. Instead, high tides swept the algae into the Coorong, an internationally significant Ramsar wetland at the mouth of the Murray River.

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Plastics campaigners warn Australia’s pledge at UN needs to be matched with ‘high ambition at home’

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Environment minister Murray Watt is returning from oceans conference where he pledged to curb the scourge of plastics and ratify a treaty to protect the high seas

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The federal environment minister, Murray Watt, is returning from a UN oceans conference where he pledged to curb the scourge of plastics and make good on Australia’s promise to ratify a treaty to protect the high seas.

The five-day meeting in Nice, France finished on Friday, and conservationists celebrated some key steps towards protecting wildlife in international waters.

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Weather tracker: Europe and China in midst of record-breaking heat

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Temperatures over 40C recorded in Portugal and Spain, while China endures heatwave conditions in high 40s

Temperature records for early June are being broken across large parts of Europe, with the mercury reaching 40.5C (104.9F) in Mértola, Portugal, on Sunday. On the same day, several weather stations in Spain recorded temperatures in excess of 42C, with dozens of sites at record levels for early summer. Across the Balkans, temperatures reached 37C. On Monday, 37.6C was recorded in Tirana, Albania, while in Greece night-time minimum temperatures have stayed mostly over 30C for much of this week.

Hot conditions are to intensify across central and western Europe over the next few days, with temperatures across large parts of France, Benelux, Italy and west Germany expected to reach the low to mid 30s celsius. Highs of up to 35C are expected in Paris on Friday, with up to 38C forecast in Rome. Conditions will ease somewhat, but a heatwave will soon develop across Iberia, with Madrid expected to reach the high-30s celsius each day next week.

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Brazil to auction oil exploration rights months before hosting Cop30

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Sale covering 56,000 square miles set to go ahead despite opposition from Indigenous and environmental groups

The Brazilian government is preparing to stage an oil exploration auction months before it hosts the Cop30 UN climate summit, despite opposition from environmental campaigners and Indigenous communities worried about the environmental and climate impacts of the plans.

Brazil’s oil sector regulator, ANP, will auction the exploration rights to 172 oil and gas blocks spanning 56,000 square miles (146,000 sq km), an area more than twice the size of Scotland, most of it offshore.

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Trump to merge wildland firefighting forces, despite warning of chaos

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Order aims to centralize efforts, which are now split among five agencies and two cabinet departments

Donald Trump has ordered the US government to consolidate its wildland firefighting force into a single program, despite warnings from former federal officials that it could be costly and increase the risk of catastrophic blazes in the middle of peak wildfire season.

The order aims to centralize firefighting efforts, which are now split among five agencies and two cabinet departments. Trump’s proposed budget for next year calls for the creation of a new Federal Wildland Fire Service under the US interior department.

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Funds to tackle Europe’s forest fires poorly targeted, says EU watchdog

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Report raises concerns that money allocated to combat fires not reaching areas where it could make biggest difference

European funds to prevent forest fires have been poorly targeted and sometimes distributed in a hurry, according to a report from the EU’s spending watchdog.

The number of forest fires in EU countries has increased dramatically over the last two decades as the climate crisis fuels ever bigger conflagrations. An area twice the size of Luxembourg has been consumed by flames in an average recent year, killing people, destroying homes and wildlife and sending megatonnes of planet-heating emissions into the air.

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Otters posing for selfies in Japanese cafes may be linked to illegal trade, experts warn

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The DNA of rare small-clawed otters in captivity in Japan has been matched to wild populations in poaching hotspots in Thailand

Posing for selfies on the laps of excited visitors, the otters of Tokyo’s animal cafes have learned to play their part in their online stardom. In thousands of social media videos, the aquatic mammals wriggle through the outstretched hands of adoring customers who reward their attention with food.

But the booming demand has raised major concerns among conservationists, with a study published in the journal Conservation Science and Practice linking the small-clawed otters in animal cafes in Japanese cities with wild populations in poaching hotspots in Thailand.

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Reefs made from human ashes could revive British seabeds, says startup

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UK company offers alternative to land-based burials after success of memorials in Bali made from remains of pets

Death is killing our planet. That is the stark assessment of a new business offering an innovative alternative: having your loved one’s ashes made into a reef and anchored to the British seabed.

There are increasing concerns about the environmental cost of traditional funerals: a single burial generates 833kg of CO2, while a typical cremation has a footprint of about 400kg of CO2. In the US alone, 1.6m tonnes of concrete and 14,000 tonnes of steel is used each year for building graves. Chemicals from embalming processes seep into the soil.

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‘Win-win’: new maps reveal best opportunities for global reforestation

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New study shows regions with best potential to regrow trees and suck climate-heating CO2 from the air

New maps have revealed the best “win-win” opportunities across the world to regrow forests and tackle the climate crisis, without harming people or wildlife.

The places range from the eastern US and western Canada, to Brazil and Columbia, and across Europe, adding up to 195 million hectares (482 million acres). If reforested, this would remove 2.2bn tonnes of carbon dioxide a year, about the same as all the nations in the European Union.

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New Zealand government sued over ‘dangerously inadequate’ emissions reduction plan

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Exclusive: In the first legal challenge to the plan, top climate lawyers claim the government relies too heavily on forestry and failed to consult the public

Hundreds of top environment lawyers are suing the New Zealand government over what they say is its “dangerously inadequate” plan to reduce emissions to net zero by 2050.

It is the first time the country’s emissions reduction plan has faced litigation, and the lawyers believe it is the first case globally that challenges the use of forestry to offset emissions.

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Sizewell C power station to be built as part of UK’s £14bn nuclear investment

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Ed Miliband promises to ‘get Britain off the fossil fuel rollercoaster’ with new plant expected to create 10,000 jobs

The biggest nuclear programme in a generation will “get Britain off the fossil fuel rollercoaster”, the energy secretary, Ed Miliband, has said, announcing £14.2bn to build a new nuclear power station and a drive to build small modular reactors.

The multibillion-pound investment at Sizewell C on the Suffolk coast, which has been long expected, will create 10,000 jobs and power the equivalent of 6m homes.

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