Category Archives: Environment

Warm winter forecast for Australia as SA and Victoria face unseasonal fire risk

Posted on by

BoM prediction follows much wetter than average autumn for northern and eastern Australia, and much drier one for south

Australia’s winter will be warmer and wetter this year, with higher than average day and night temperatures, and above-average rainfall likely in central and interior parts of the country.

The Bureau of Meteorology’s long-range forecast said parts of the tropical north, south-east and south-west could expect typical winter rainfall, including coastal areas of New South Wales affected by the May floods, and parts of South Australia, Victoria and Tasmania where there have been prolonged dry conditions.

Sign up for Guardian Australia’s breaking news email

Continue reading...

Canada wildfires: thousands in Manitoba ordered to evacuate as state of emergency declared

Posted on by

There are more than 130 active wildfires across the country, half of which are considered out of control

More than 17,000 people in Canada’s western Manitoba province were being evacuated on Wednesday as the region experienced its worst start to the wildfire season in years.

“The Manitoba government has declared a province-wide state of emergency due to the wildfire situation,” Manitoba’s premier, Wab Kinew, told a news conference. “This is the largest evacuation Manitoba will have seen in most people’s living memory.”

Continue reading...

No one committed to Paris goals can seriously argue Woodside’s LNG project should operate until 2070

Posted on by

Forty-year extension of North West Shelf gas project granted by environment minister Murray Watt will result in huge greenhouse gas emissions, putting the already degraded Indigenous rock art at risk

We don’t know all the evidence that the new environment minister, Murray Watt, had before him when he decided to approve a 40-year life extension to one of Australia’s biggest fossil fuel developments so that it could run until 2070.

But we do know this. The decision largely turned on whether the North West Shelf liquefied natural gas (LNG) development on the Pilbara’s Burrup Hub can coexist for decades into the future with an incredible collection of ancient Murujuga rock art, some of it nearly 50,000 years old and unlike anything else on the planet.

Get Guardian Australia environment editor Adam Morton’s Clear Air column as an email

Continue reading...

World faces new danger of ‘economic denial’ in climate fight, Cop30 head says

Posted on by

Exclusive: André Corrêa do Lago says ‘answers have to come from the economy’ as climate policies trigger populist-fuelled backlash

The world is facing a new form of climate denial – not the dismissal of climate science, but a concerted attack on the idea that the economy can be reorganised to fight the crisis, the president of global climate talks has warned.

André Corrêa do Lago, the veteran Brazilian diplomat who will direct this year’s UN summit, Cop30, believes his biggest job will be to counter the attempt from some vested interests to prevent climate policies aimed at shifting the global economy to a low-carbon footing.

Continue reading...

AI tool trial could save equivalent of 1.5m meals in food waste

Posted on by

Nestlé is among UK companies taking part in project to ‘design out’ waste by redistributing surplus product

Millions of meals worth of wasted food could be redistributed thanks to an artificial intelligence tool being trialled by companies across the UK, including Nestlé.

The AI tool, which has already generated an 87% reduction in edible food waste at one of the Swiss conglomerate’s factories over its first two-week trial period, is intended to “design out” food waste by providing real-time monitoring, tracking and insights of wasted ingredients and products.

Continue reading...

‘We carry on with the sadness’: new projects honor life and legacy of Dom Phillips and Bruno Pereira

Posted on by

Friends and colleagues of Phillips, killed in the Amazon in 2022, completed his book, which coincides with launch of investigative Guardian podcast

Three years after the British journalist Dom Phillips and the Brazilian activist Bruno Pereira were murdered in the Amazon, two major new projects will celebrate their lives and work – and the Indigenous communities and rainforests both men sought to protect.

Friends of Phillips have completed the book he was writing at the time of his death – How to Save the Amazon – which will be published in the UK, the US and Brazil on 27 May.

Continue reading...

Four former Volkswagen managers convicted of fraud in ‘dieselgate’ trial

Posted on by

Braunschweig court gives two former executives prison sentences for roles in emissions test-cheating scandal

A German court has convicted four former Volkswagen managers of fraud and given two of them prison sentences for their part in the “dieselgate” emissions test-cheating scandal that erupted almost a decade ago.

The former head of development Heinz-Jakob Neusser received a suspended jail term of one year and three months from the court in the city of Braunschweig, according to the news agency Bloomberg.

Continue reading...

Nearly extinct ‘forgotten antelope’ photographed for first time in DRC

Posted on by

Upemba lechwe considered one of world’s rarest large mammals with fewer than 100 thought to remain

A photograph of Africa’s “forgotten antelope” has been published for the first time as the elusive creature dives towards extinction.

Fewer than 100 Upemba lechwe are thought to remain, with an aerial survey in the Kamalondo depression of the southern Democratic Republic of the Congo having recorded 10 individuals.

Continue reading...

New Zealand will not be ‘guilt-tripped’ over environment, resources minister says

Posted on by

Shane Jones is unapologetic about his plan to double mineral exports to $3bn over the next decade despite criticism over potential environmental impacts

New Zealand’s minister for resources, Shane Jones, said he will not be guilt-tripped by “apocalyptic images” of mining and its effects on the environment put forward by his critics, as he embarks on a major mining push.

Jones, a member of the minor populist coalition party New Zealand First, wants to double mineral exports to $3bn over the next decade, to boost economic growth and minimise the country’s reliance on imported resources, even if it results in environmental trade-offs.

Continue reading...

What are public parks for? Inside the debate sparked by London festival row

Posted on by

Differing interpretations of public access rights are at heart of Brockwell case pitting campaign group against festival fans

Public parks have been a cherished part of British life since the 19th century; for the Victorians they represented a “commitment to cultivate public good within the public realm”.

But differing interpretations of this vision for municipal green space are at the heart of a debate over a very 21st-century issue: music festivals.

Continue reading...

Trump signs executive orders to spur US ‘nuclear energy renaissance’

Posted on by

President aims to construct new nuclear reactors as he implements his own energy policies and undoes Joe Biden’s

Donald Trump signed a series of executive orders on Friday intended to spur a “nuclear energy renaissance” through the construction of new reactors he said would satisfy the electricity demands of data centers for artificial intelligence and other emerging industries.

The orders represented the president’s latest foray into the policy underlying America’s electricity supply. Trump declared a national energy emergency on his first day in office over and moved to undo a ban implemented by Joe Biden on new natural gas export terminals and expand oil and gas drilling in Alaska.

Continue reading...

Labour blocks proposal for ‘swift bricks’ in all new homes

Posted on by

MPs had previously backed Conservative amendment to ask developers to provide hollow bricks for endangered birds

Providing every new home with at least one “swift brick” to help endangered cavity-nesting birds has been rejected by Labour at the committee stage of its increasingly controversial planning bill.

The amendment to the bill to ask every developer to provide a £35 hollow brick for swifts, house martins, sparrows and starlings, which was tabled by Labour MP Barry Gardiner, has been rejected by the Labour-dominated committee.

Continue reading...

Sebastião Salgado, photographer known for Amazon rainforest images, dies aged 81

Posted on by

Brazilian photographer’s work highlighted injustice and introduced rainforest to the world

The Brazilian photographer Sebastião Salgado, who is best known for his dramatic black-and-white photographs that highlighted injustice and introduced the Amazon rainforest the world, has died. He was 81.

His death was confirmed by the Instituto Terra, the environmental restoration non-profit he founded with his wife of six decades, Lélia Wanick Salgado. In a post on Instagram, the institute described Salgado as “much more than one of the greatest photographers of our time”.

Continue reading...

Brazil activists decry green rollbacks as senate passes ‘devastation bill’

Posted on by

Legislation would dismantle regulations in farming, mining and energy, increasing risk of widespread destruction

Environmental activists in Brazil have decried a dramatic rollback of environmental safeguards after the senate approved a bill that would dismantle licensing processes and increase the risk of widespread destruction.

The upper house passed the so-called “devastation bill” with 54 votes to 13 late on Wednesday, paving the way for projects ranging from mining and infrastructure to energy and farming to receive regulatory approval with little to no environmental oversight.

Continue reading...

EU’s ‘chocolate crisis’ worsened by climate breakdown, researchers warn

Posted on by

Cocoa one of six commodities vulnerable to environmental threats in ‘extremely worrying picture’ for food resilience

Climate breakdown and wildlife loss are deepening the EU’s “chocolate crisis”, a report has argued, with cocoa one of six key commodities to come mostly from countries vulnerable to environmental threats.

More than two-thirds of the cocoa, coffee, soy, rice, wheat and maize brought into the EU in 2023 came from countries that are not well prepared for climate change, according to the UK consultants Foresight Transitions.

Continue reading...

NSW floods: BoM warns of ‘lots of flooding to come’ amid wet weather on mid-north coast

Posted on by

Two days of heavy rainfall still on way as SES carries out 130 rescues amid floods in Taree and nearby areas

Residents of the mid-north coast of New South Wales have described anxious waits for rescue in the dark as unprecedented flooding inundates homes and businesses across the region.

The State Emergency Service has performed 130 rescues in the past 24 hours, the bulk of those occurring in Taree, Wingham and Glenthorne.

Sign up for Guardian Australia’s breaking news email

Continue reading...

Watchdog urges Scotland to take action after repeatedly missing climate targets

Posted on by

Climate Change Committee says original goal of a 75% emissions cut by 2030 will now be delayed by up to six years

The UK’s climate watchdog has warned that Scotland needs to take “immediate action at pace and scale” to cut its emissions after ministers axed a series of policy pledges.

The Climate Change Committee (CCC), an official advisory body, said ministers in Edinburgh needed to take urgent action to curb emissions from buildings and transport to cut Scotland’s overall emissions to nearly zero by 2045.

Abandoned a target to cut car miles by 20% by 2030.

Dropped a pledge to rapidly decarbonise homes by mandating low-carbon heating systems.

Cut funding for tree planting.

Missed targets to restore degraded peatland.

Ignored calls for a plan to cut meat and dairy consumption, and failed to use their powers to tax air travel more heavily.

Continue reading...

Bees face new threats from wars, street lights and microplastics, scientists warn

Posted on by

University of Reading report says conflicts including war in Ukraine among 12 most pressing threats to pollinator

War zones, microplastics and street lights are among the emerging threats to the bee population, according to scientists.

Bee experts have drawn up a list of the 12 most pressing threats to the pollinator over the next decade, published in a report, Emerging Threats and Opportunities for Conservation of Global Pollinators, by the University of Reading.

Continue reading...

Dogs are being trained to weed out eggs of invasive spotted lanternflies in US

Posted on by

Researchers are deploying sniffing dogs to combat spread of leaf-hopping pests that can damage trees and fruit crops

The 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...

Scientists recommend limits on urban beekeeping to protect Australia’s native bees from honeybees

Posted on by

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

Scientists have recommended limits on urban beekeeping after a peer-reviewed study found introduced honeybees could be harming Australian native bees and risked driving them to extinction.

The Australian research, published in Frontiers in Bee Science, found native bees living in areas with high densities of introduced honeybees had fewer female offspring and a higher death rate in their first year of life.

Sign up to get climate and environment editor Adam Morton’s Clear Air column as a free newsletter

Continue reading...