Former energy minister Greg Barker went to climate talks as part of Russian Federation party
A Conservative peer attended Cop26 in Glasgow as part of Russia’s group of participants at the UN climate summit, the Guardian can reveal.
Greg Barker, a former energy minister when David Cameron was prime minister, attended the talks as part of the party of the Russian Federation, according to a list published by the UN.
Continue reading...Lismore residents protest Scott Morrison’s visit as PM says disasters mean Australia ‘getting hard to live in’; NSW flood death toll rises to nine after man’s body found in western Sydney; second Japanese encephalitis death recorded as outbreak spreads to South Australia; Indigenous teenager shot by NT police fighting for life; at least 34 Covid-related deaths nationwide. This blog is now closed
The latest figures from WaterNSW will give some comfort to those in the Hawkesbury-Nepean floodplain, where flood levels are approaching 1978 heights in places.
As of 5am Wednesday, the spill rate over the Warragamba Dam wall is 215 gigalitres a day, or about half the peak rate reached yesterday.
The good news is that we have seen the river is falling there. The plan today is that the team will be reviewing what’s happening.
They’re making sure it’s safe to return, and we are hoping during the day we might be able to issue that people can return, with caution … We just need to make sure – we need to check things like electricity, sewerage and the like to make sure it’s safe to return.
Continue reading...While cause remains unconfirmed, green groups fear the three whales could be the ‘tip of iceberg’ with many more animals hurt
Environmental groups have linked the beaching of three whales in Corfu to seismic testing for oil and gas in the waters off the Greek island.
Two Cuvier’s beaked whales were found stranded at Arillas and Agios Gordios beaches on the west of the island on 20 February. A third beaked whale ran ashore on Agios Gordios beach the day after.
Continue reading...Prime minister visits Lismore as government declared national emergency to release more resources to help
Scott Morrison was met with a fiery reception in flood-devastated Lismore, as he defended the speed of his government’s response to the disaster, saying the ADF is “not available on a moment’s notice”.
Ahead of Morrison’s arrival in Lismore, the federal government declared a national emergency around the floods, giving the Commonwealth greater power to send in defence force assets and skirt around administrative “red tape” to get financial support out quicker.
Continue reading...Researchers say the island’s biggest mine is on track to achieve no net loss of forest but that ‘there remain important caveats’
Ambatovy mine on the east coast of Madagascar is an environmental conundrum fit for the 21st century. Beginning operations in 2012, the multibillion-dollar open-pit nickel and cobalt mine is the largest investment in the history of the country, one of the poorest on Earth. About 9,000 Malagasies are employed by the project, owned by the Japanese company Sumitomo Corporation and Korean firm Komir, which mines minerals destined for the world’s electric car batteries. To construct the mine and the 140-mile (220km) slurry pipeline to port on the Indian ocean, 2,000 hectares (5,000 acres) of pristine rainforest was cleared, destroying vital habitat of the endangered indri, the largest living lemur, and thousands of other species.
Alongside the land clearing in a country that has lost nearly a quarter of its tree cover since 2000, the mine has been blamed for air and water pollution, as well as health problems in the local population. The smell of ammonia in residential areas and the pollution of drinking water were revealed in a 2017 investigation.
Continue reading...Japanese measures including turning down the heating and slower trains could ease pressure on British households, say experts
Britain could learn from Japan’s response to the Fukushima nuclear plant disaster by reducing energy consumption to deal with soaring global gas prices after the Russian invasion of Ukraine, academics have said.
Suggesting a coordinated response to record gas prices could help ease the pressure on households, experts told MPs on the Commons business committee that steps to reduce national demand for gas-fired power next winter could be deployed.
Continue reading...Frustrated by a lack of female representation, film-maker Akanksha Sood Singh set up an Instagram account to showcase ‘the untold stories of women working for science and nature’
“I wish these things wouldn’t happen to anyone,” says Akanksha Sood Singh, a wildlife film-maker based in Delhi. “But if it has happened, this is a safe space for women to come and to share their experiences.”
The safe space Sood Singh is referring to is the Instagram account Women of the Wild – India, which showcases “the untold stories of women working for science and nature”. The platform gives them a chance to promote their expertise, but also somewhere to share their experiences of working in what are often male-dominated fields where sexual harassment can often feature.
Continue reading...Loss of coastal seagrass meadows due to sediment-laden flood water likely to cause mass starvation in aquatic wildlife
Hundreds of dugongs and thousands of turtles will likely starve to death in coming months after flood waters smothered Queensland’s seagrass meadows with sediment.
Col Limpus, the chief scientist for wildlife and threatened species in Queensland’s environmental department, is so familiar with the pattern of death that follows big floods he can provide a timeline of what is in store.
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Continue reading...Federal prosecutors were expected to make closing arguments today in the first jury trial of someone charged with joining in the 6 January attack of the US Capitol.
Guy Reffitt of Texas, the first of some 750 people charged with joining the riot to face trial in Washington, has been charged with carrying a semi-automatic handgun while on Capitol grounds and obstructing justice by threatening his children with harm if they reported him to authorities.
Continue reading...Thousands of people in Sydney’s south and south-west have been told to leave as flood warnings are in place for vast swathes of NSW, as Dominic Perrottet admits ‘better planning’ is required for future flood mitigation. Follow all the day’s news
Federal opposition frontbencher Tanya Plibersek has jumped on the radio right after the premier to talk about Labor’s proposed $77m package to improve consent education at school. (Hopefully with something better than that bizarre milkshake video from last year.)
Well, the national curriculum has just been strengthened in this area to say that all students should learn about respectful relationships while they’re at school ... This is making sure that we change the objective in the curriculum into real change in every classroom in Australia.
... If we can change that when they are young, we can change these shocking statistics across Australia where we see one in five Australian women experiencing sexual assault in her lifetime, one in three experiencing domestic violence.
Premier, can you guarantee people who lost their homes to these floods, that they will be able to rebuild where they are, or will some be forced to move to less flood-prone areas?
Well, Patricia, I’ll work through that because I mean, obviously this was an unpredicted, freak catastrophe. I mean, there’s a 14 and a half metre flood in Lismore!
But ultimately, in these times, we need to have frank assessments of the circumstances.
Again, I don’t mean to be rude, but you say “freak” – is it really a “freak” if we’re being told we’re going to have more of these events more frequently?
Should we be really describing it that way when we know that these events are going to be with us more often?
We’ve never seen a 14 and a half metre flood in Lismore, I’m sure you have that. There’s no doubt that we are seeing more of these events and we need to make sure that as we rebuild, we do so in such a way that ensures that we protect people’s lives and we have communities built in a way where we mitigate flood risk or fire risk.
... So as we get to that rebuilding phase, we’ll certainly look at better planning and more flood mitigation and fire mitigation as we move through.
Continue reading...Animal activists criticise removal of bear known as Juan Carrito, taken to an enclosure for ‘problem’ animals
A rare brown bear who became famous after breaking into a bakery and feasting on the biscuits has been captured in the central Italian region of Abruzzo, sparking criticism from animal activists.
The marsican bear, affectionately known as Juan Carrito by residents in the mountain town of Roccaraso, has been taken to an enclosure for “problem” animals.
Continue reading...Analysis of satellite observations show forest is losing stability with ‘profound’ global implications
The Amazon is approaching a tipping point, data shows, after which the rainforest would be lost with “profound” implications for the global climate and biodiversity.
Computer models have previously indicated a mass dieback of the Amazon is possible but the new analysis is based on real-world satellite observations over the past three decades.
Continue reading...Severe weather to affect coastal areas from Coffs Harbour to Bega; Queensland estimates ‘rain bomb’ will cost state more than $4bn; two NSW residents among Japanese encephalitis patients in Victoria; ADF defends NSW flood response; PM speaks on east coast floods, Ukraine crisis; nation records at least 32 Covid deaths with 23 in South Australia. Follow all the day’s news
As expected, AGL Energy has formally rejected the takeover bid by billionaire Mike Cannon-Brookes and Canadian asset manager Brookfield, posting an ASX statement this morning.
AGL, the country’s largest electricity generator, received a revised bid late on Friday, offering $8.25 a share, up from an initial unsolicited bid of $7.50 a share.
Continue reading...A second east coast low is expected to form overnight, bringing heavy rain and damaging winds
A second east coast low off New South Wales is forecast to form overnight into Tuesday, bringing heavy rain but also stirring stronger winds than a similar system last week.
The Bureau of Meteorology has expanded its warning zone for heavy falls and damaging winds to cover an area from Coffs Harbour almost all the way south to the Victorian border.
Continue reading...An investigation appears to show company employees discussing how to smear local opponents of the Central American nickel operation
A decision to restart operations at one of Central America’s largest nickel mines is being questioned by campaigners, after an investigation appeared to show the company co-opted indigenous leaders and smeared potential opponents.
In 2019, the Fenix project in eastern Guatemala was the subject of an investigation carried out by the Guardian and other media, organised by French consortium Forbidden Stories.
In that investigation, residents alleged that the mine – which is owned by Solway, a company based in Switzerland – was to blame for failing crops, polluting the lake and pressing local authorities to quash dissent.
As a result of a new investigation by the same consortium, the Guardian visited local communities in El Estor, the municipality surrounding the mine, in January this year and heard from residents and community leaders that claim little has changed.
“They said that there would be development [building schools and hospitals], that there would be a change in El Estor, when really there is none,” said Cristobal Pop, 45, the president of the artisan fishers’ union.
Continue reading...A new generation of detectors will be many times better at tracking discharges of the dangerous greenhouse gas
Last month, scientists working with data from Tropomi, a monitoring instrument onboard the European Space Agency’s Sentinel-5 satellite, published some startling findings. Writing in the journal Science, the team reported that it had found about 1,800 instances of huge releases of methane (more than 25 tonnes an hour) into the atmosphere in 2019 and 2020. Two-thirds of these were from oil and gas facilities, with the leaks concentrated over the largest oil and gas basins across the world, as well as major transmission pipelines, the team said.
Launched in 2017, Tropomi has been a huge step forward for scientists researching methane, being the first instrument in space that can see plumes of methane emissions directly, says Lena Höglund-Isaksson, a methane researcher at the International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis . For example, the instrument led to the discovery of huge methane leaks in Turkmenistan that researchers were not aware of before, she says.
Continue reading...A scientific experiment hopes to restore vital nutrients to the ocean by using fake excrement that would once have been produced by the endangered mammal
In a few weeks an international group of scientists will launch an unusual marine research project. They will dust the surface of the Indian Ocean with artificial whale faeces.
The aim of this excremental experiment is straightforward. It is to determine if it is possible to reboot marine ecosystems that have been starved of nutrients and in the process restore dwindling fish populations. It is also hoped the project will help in the battle against the climate crisis.
Continue reading...Steven Fuller has been the ‘winterkeeper’ at Yellowstone for 49 years. In that time, he has captured the breathtaking natural phenomena and the wildlife that exist there through all the seasons
Continue reading...Residents of townships around Lismore and Mullumbimby recall destructive landslides, rising flood waters and raging torrents
The towns of the New South Wales northern rivers are used to floods – they are part of the region’s history and a product of its geography. But this time was different. The speed at which flood waters rose, the sheer volume of water and the scale of the damage caught many by surprise.
Politicians are calling these floods a once-in-a-100, or even a once-in-a-1,000-year event, but in reality these catastrophic weather events are becoming more intense and more frequent.
Continue reading...Surge of estate sales to big firms has driven up prices and increased elitism of land ownership, says report
A drive by wealthy companies to plant forests in the Scottish Highlands to offset their carbon emissions risks creating even greater inequalities in rural areas, a major report has warned.
The analysis says a surge of Highland estate sales to major corporations and cash-rich investors, such as Aviva, Standard Life and BrewDog, has driven up land prices sharply and increased the elitism and exclusivity of land ownership, while they aim to limit climate heating.
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