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Badgers, stoats and otters stage ‘incredible’ revival

Sun, 2019-02-24 19:00
Britain’s carnivore numbers are booming after clampdown on hunting and pollution

They must survive government culls, gamekeepers, poisoning, persecution and increasingly busy roads but, in modern times at least, Britain’s carnivores have never had it so good: badger, otter, pine marten, polecat, stoat and weasel populations have “markedly improved” since the 1960s, according to a new study.

The otter, polecat and pine marten have bounced back from the brink of extinction, and the country’s only carnivorous mammal now in danger of being wiped out is the wildcat, with the dwindling Scottish populations hit by hybridisation with domestic and feral cats.

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Kew’s tree library leads hi-tech war on illegal logging

Sun, 2019-02-24 18:00

New techniques will help customs officers identify and seize wood that came from endangered species

The wooden blinds that lie crumpled in Peter Gasson’s laboratory in Kew Gardens are chipped and forlorn-looking. Their manufacturers had claimed they were made of pine but customs officers were wary. And their suspicions were well-founded. Gasson, Kew’s research leader on wood and timber, found the blinds were not made of pine but ramin.

“All ramin trees, which grow in south-east Asia, are endangered and trade in their wood is illegal,” said Gasson. “On this occasion, we got lucky and stopped people profiting from this trade.”

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Labor won't prejudge Adani as it could harm future decisions, Tony Burke says

Sun, 2019-02-24 10:39

Shadow environment minister sceptical whether law followed on approvals for coal project

Tony Burke says he has always been sceptical about whether the law has been followed in relation to previous environmental approvals for the controversial Adani coal project in Queensland.

But the shadow environment minister argues that he can’t telegraph a firm disposition about what he might do about the approvals in the future without making a prejudgment that could render any subsequent decision unlawful.

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The 12 key shows from Milan fashion week – in pictures

Sat, 2019-02-23 20:17

From Gucci’s power suiting to a gameshow that inspired Jeremy Scott for this season’s runway for Moschino, Jo Jones picks her 10 highlights from the autumn/winter 2019 shows

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Boy, 12, said to have created nuclear reaction in playroom lab

Sat, 2019-02-23 03:16

Hobbyists say Jackson Oswalt of Tennessee is youngest person to achieve fusion

An American 14-year-old has reportedly become the youngest known person in the world to create a successful nuclear reaction.

The Open Source Fusor Research Consortium, a hobbyist group, has recognised the achievement by Jackson Oswalt, from Memphis, Tennessee, when he was aged 12 in January 2018.

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Teachers and students stage mock climate classes in Whitehall

Sat, 2019-02-23 02:50

Traffic blocked at Department for Education during call for national curriculum changes

More than 100 teachers, academics and students have blocked traffic and staged mock climate classes outside the Department for Education in a protest against the underplaying of environmental problems in the national curriculum.

The demonstrators – who carried Teach the Truth, Rebel for Life and Climate: More Important Than Brexit banners – urged the government to make the climate and ecological crisis an educational priority.

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The week in wildlife – in pictures

Sat, 2019-02-23 01:18

Pangolins, a mountain lion and a sad good-bye to Papua New Guinea’s Bramble Cay melomys

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Watchdog permits 170,000 wild bird killings in five years

Fri, 2019-02-22 23:39

Exclusive: birds and eggs from 70 species, some rare, have been licensed for destruction

The government’s conservation watchdog has issued licences to destroy 170,000 wild birds, eggs and nests, including rare and declining species such as curlews and swifts, in the past five years.

Natural England has given permission to kill birds of more than 70 species, or have their nests and eggs destroyed. These include peregrine falcons, barn owls, buzzards and red kites, alongside garden favourites such as robins, blackbirds and blue tits. A licence was even issued to destroy a wrens’ nest to “preserve public safety” in South Yorkshire.

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Naturalists concerned for early-emerging spring species in UK

Fri, 2019-02-22 23:31

A cold, wet March could prove problematic for animals now out of hibernation

Spring is arriving early with swallows, frogspawn and unexpected perfume as temperatures soar up to 20C above this time last year when Britain was blasted by the “beast from the east”.

Rooks are nesting, ladybirds are mating and dozens of migratory swallows have been spotted along the south-west coast – more than a month ahead of their normal arrival.

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Early spring: share your photographs and stories

Fri, 2019-02-22 23:17

We want your help documenting the situation as record temperatures bring early signs of spring across Europe

After one of the hottest summers ever in 2018 and a mild winter across much of Europe, record temperatures are suggesting spring is once more beginning earlier than usual.

Swallows and house martins have been spotted more than a month earlier than usual and temperatures are up to 20C higher than this time last year. We’re looking for your help documenting signs of the situation where you are, and would like to see your pictures and hear about what you are seeing as well as how you feel about it.

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School curriculum fails to reflect the urgency of the climate crisis

Fri, 2019-02-22 17:00

Informed students are prompting adults to act on the issue

I draw three circles on the board as my class watches.

“So, what might this gas be?”

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Colombian tribe calls for action on alleged effects of UK oil firm

Fri, 2019-02-22 17:00

In part two of our series, indigenous Siona people claim their health is being affected by apparent contamination of river

María Isaura Cuaran, an indigenous Siona woman, is displaying a rash that has appeared at the base of her neck. It is barely visible, but there nonetheless. Pulling her turquoise top off her left shoulder and tugging down on her bead necklace, Cuaran talks about “the company” and how, she alleges, it has affected the local river.

“Stomach problems, coughing, fever, vomiting, diarrhoea, welts, little spots, little blotches, general malaise …”

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Bike theft affects the young and poor most – why is it not taken seriously?

Fri, 2019-02-22 17:00

National cycle crime strategy set to launch after survey finds 50% of victims feel police don’t take the offence seriously

For many people a bicycle is the only transport they can afford and the only exercise they get. These people are often among society’s most vulnerable, and the impact of the loss of their bike can be devastating. So why is cycle theft so often seen as a minor crime?

According to the police, 96,210 bikes were stolen in 2018, and about one in 50 bicycle-owning households are victims of cycle theft each year, but it’s a crime disproportionately visited on the young and the poor.

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World's food supply under 'severe threat' from loss of biodiversity

Fri, 2019-02-22 09:05

Plants, insects and organisms crucial to food production in steep decline, says UN

The world’s capacity to produce food is being undermined by humanity’s failure to protect biodiversity, according to the first UN study of the plants, animals and micro-organisms that help to put meals on our plates.

The stark warning was issued by the Food and Agriculture Organisation after scientists found evidence the natural support systems that underpin the human diet are deteriorating around the world as farms, cities and factories gobble up land and pump out chemicals.

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Grand Canyon tourists possibly exposed to radiation at museum, whistleblower says

Fri, 2019-02-22 06:20

Park safety director alleges buckets of uranium sat near exhibit for almost 20 years, but interior department says there’s no risk

For almost 20 years, workers and visiting school children at a Grand Canyon museum may have been unknowingly exposed to radiation from three buckets of uranium sitting next to a taxidermy exhibit, according to allegations from a National Park Service safety director.

The whistleblower says officials learned about the buckets last year and tried to hide the revelation, according to the Arizona Republic newspaper. Earlier this month, Elston “Swede” Stephenson emailed all park staff and brought the matter to the attention of the head of the interior department, which oversees the park service, and the agency’s internal watchdog.

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World's largest bee, missing for 38 years, found in Indonesia

Fri, 2019-02-22 00:00

Biologists discover single female Wallace’s giant bee inside a termites’ nest in a tree

As long as an adult thumb, with jaws like a stag beetle and four times larger than a honeybee, Wallace’s giant bee is not exactly inconspicuous.

But after going missing, feared extinct, for 38 years, the world’s largest bee has been rediscovered on the Indonesian islands of the North Moluccas.

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Greta Thunberg tells EU: your climate targets need doubling

Thu, 2019-02-21 23:22

Swede, 16, says EU cannot just ‘wait for us to grow up and become the ones in charge’

The EU should double its climate change reduction targets to do its fair share in keeping the planet below a dangerous level of global warming, the Swedish activist Greta Thunberg has told political and business leaders in Brussels.

Flanked by students from the Belgian and German school strike movements, the Swedish teenager said it was not enough to hope that young people were going to save the world.

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MPs turn heat on ministers amid boiler installation slowdown

Thu, 2019-02-21 22:57

Critics warn of ‘chronic public health crisis’ as green initiative leaves homes in the cold

Campaigners and MPs have accused ministers of leaving vulnerable households in the cold, as figures show installations of insulation and boilers have sunk to their lowest levels since the government’s flagship energy efficiency scheme started six years ago.

Delays to legislation were blamed by fuel poverty campaigners for the fall, which coincided with households being hit by energy price increases.

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Greta Thunberg to politicians: 'we're fighting for everyone's future' – video

Thu, 2019-02-21 22:11

Greta Thunberg, the 16-year-old Swedish climate activist, has told an EU conference: 'since our time is running out we have started to clean up your mess and we will not stop until we are done.' 

In response to people who have criticised the school climate strike movement for promoting truancy, Thunberg said, 'they don't want to talk about it ... because they haven't done their homework, but we have'

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Giant tortoise believed extinct for 100 years found in Galápagos

Thu, 2019-02-21 19:31

Adult female discovered 113 years after only other living Chelonoidis phantasticus was found

A living member of species of tortoise not seen in more than 110 years and feared to be extinct has been found in a remote part of the Galápagos island of Fernandina.

Related: Welcome home, Lonesome George: giant tortoise returns to Galapagos

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