Category Archives: Environment

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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Weather tracker: Storms make way for summer heat in Europe

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Florence in Italy could hit 39C as hot weather sweeps continent, while parts of South Africa brace for snow

The severe thunderstorms that have been lashing parts of Europe over recent days are expected to give way to high temperatures this week. Several regions could climb to 10C (50F) above seasonal norms, with Italy braced for the full force of the heat. Florence in Tuscany is forecast to soar to a sweltering 39C on Thursday and across the weekend.

Germany, France and Belgium will also face hot weather from Wednesday, with widespread highs at least 9C above the June average. Many other parts of Europe are forecast to experience temperatures 5-7C above normal. This is the result of a high-pressure system creating a heat dome over the region, whereby sinking air compresses and warms as it descends, trapping heat near the surface.

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Australian government to declare almost a third of its oceans ‘highly protected’ in the next five years

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Murray Watt tells UN conference in France a review of Australia’s marine parks will ‘lay the foundation’ for increasing ocean protections

The Australian government plans to declare 30% of its ocean “highly protected” by 2030, raising expectations from conservationists it will ban fishing and drilling in nearly a third of the country’s waters.

The environment minister, Murray Watt, told the UN Ocean Conference in France a review of 44 of Australia’s marine parks would “lay the foundation” to increase the area of the country’s ocean with higher levels of protection.

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Campaigners hail plan to ban bottom trawling in half of England’s protected seas

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Environmental groups welcome government proposals to clamp down on destructive fishing practice

Environmental groups have welcomed government proposals to ban the destructive fishing practice known as bottom trawling in half of England’s protected seas.

The plan, to be announced on Monday by the environment secretary, Steve Reed, came before a UN summit in Nice to tackle the ocean’s failing health. It follows pressure from conservationists and the release of a David Attenborough film featuring rare underwater footage of the devastation to the seabed caused by bottom trawling in British waters.

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Will the North Sea oil and gas industry be Labour’s next U-turn?

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With Nigel Farage targeting net zero, could government policy change to protect jobs, revenue and votes?

It was inevitable that Nigel Farage would take Reform UK’s campaign tour to Aberdeen. On a visit to the capital of the UK’s oil and gas industry on Monday he welcomed a defecting Aberdeen Conservative councillor, the 13th defection to his party’s ranks in Scotland to date.

Reform is hoping to make political hay from the discontent surrounding the government’s North Sea policies, the demise of the oil and gas basin and the vast workforce that depends on it. The populist party has vowed to reverse the government’s ban on fresh North Sea oil and gas drilling as a “day one” priority if elected to power in 2029.

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Dehorning rhinos reduces poaching by 80%, study finds

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Cutting off the animals’ horns more effective than traditional protection methods such as rangers and costs less, say experts

Cutting the horns off rhinos causes a large reduction in poaching, according to a new study, which raises questions about the effectiveness of expensive anti-poaching techniques used to protect the African mammals.

Poaching for horn is a significant threat to the world’s five rhino species. The substance, which is similar to human fingernails, is commonly used for traditional medicine in China, Vietnam and other Asian countries. Dealers in the hidden market will pay tens of thousands of dollars for the horns, which are falsely believed to be effective at treating fevers, pain and a low sex drive in traditional medicine.

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Labour’s £13.2bn warm homes plan will not face cuts in spending review

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Source confirms decision that will help meet net zero targets and pledge to cut energy bills by £300

Ministers have decided not to cut Labour’s landmark £13.2bn fund to fix draughty homes and install heat pumps and solar panels in next week’s spending review, it has emerged.

A government source confirmed Rachel Reeves, the chancellor, would not be making cuts to the flagship warm homes plan. The decision, which was first reported by the Daily Telegraph, marks a victory for Ed Miliband in his negotiations with the Treasury over the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero’s budget.

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Marine heatwave found to have engulfed area of ocean five times the size of Australia

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World Meteorological Organization report says record heat in 2024 was driven by climate crisis and intersected with extreme weather events

Almost 40 million sq kilometres of ocean around south-east Asia and the Pacific – an area five times the size of Australia – was engulfed in a marine heatwave in 2024, a World Meteorological Organization (WMO) report has revealed.

WMO scientists said the record heat – on land and in the ocean – was mostly driven by the climate crisis and coincided with a string of extreme weather events, from deadly landslides in the Philippines to floods in Australia and rapid glacier loss in Indonesia.

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