Around The Web

Labor lost the election, Australia was hit by a punishing drought and the nation mourned Bob Hawke

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The spoon-billed sandpiper has been brought back from the brink after a conservation programme in Gloucestershire

After eight years, conservationists have succeeded in helping spoon-billed sandpipers hatch chicks at the Wildfowl and Wetlands Trust headquarters in Gloucestershire.

The birds belong to the world’s only captive flock of spoon-billed sandpipers, considered to be among the rarest of waders, and highly threatened. About 200 or so birds are thought to be left in the wild.

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Trees for Life, one of four charities chosen for our climate appeal, runs projects that offer ‘eco-therapy’ to its volunteers
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Paul Valencia Palaçios has walked for two hours from the east end of Glasgow to Govan to describe what it is like to plant a tree.

The 39-year-old asylum seeker from El Salvador sits in the offices of Govan Community Project – a charity that provides everything from English lessons to legal advice for refugees – and beams.

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A selection of the best science and environment features published this year.

A law could be strengthened to punish people who throw litter out of vehicle windows.

Joanna is an urban gardener trying to reconnect with nature in Singapore.

Sarah Sands, editor of BBC Radio 4’s Today programme, admits it ‘felt awkward’

Putting a presenter on a flight to Sweden to meet climate activist Greta Thunberg “felt awkward”, the editor of BBC Radio 4’s Today programme has admitted.

The 16-year-old campaigner, who was a guest editor on a special edition of the show, avoids air travel because of its environmental impact.

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With around one million species at risk, how do conservationists decide what species to save?

Tomas Tama has spent 30 years protecting the reptiles in Ethiopia, despite once being bitten.

Joyful View to operate facility as nearby residents placed on water restrictions and communities face risk of running dry

A Chinese-owned company has been granted approval to run a 96m litre a year commercial water mining operation in severely drought-hit southern Queensland, where locals are on water rations and communities at imminent risk of running dry.

Last week the Southern Downs regional council approved a development application for the company, Joyful View Garden Real Estate Development Resort Pty Ltd, to operate a water extraction and distribution facility at Cherrabah, a large property at Elbow Valley near the Queensland-New South Wales border.

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Exclusive: London has highest level yet recorded but health impacts of breathing particles are unknown

Microplastic pollution is raining down on city dwellers, with research revealing that London has the highest levels yet recorded.

The health impacts of breathing or consuming the tiny plastic particles are unknown, and experts say urgent research is needed to assess the risks.

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In the Danube delta, removing dams and bringing back native species have restored ecosystems

A battered old military truck and rusting Belarusian tractor are perched on the edge of degraded wetland in the heart of the Danube Delta Biosphere Reserve. They have been hastily deployed in a desperate attempt to save an excavator from being swallowed by the squelching earth beside the obsolete Soviet dam it is trying to demolish.

In the 1970s, 11 earth dams were built on the Sarata and Kogilnik rivers as a crude alternative to footbridges to access the area’s aquifers.

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A mission to launch thousands of satellites is about to begin, but scientists say this could affect astronomy.

Drop comes as usage in Europe and the US declines and China tightens use of imported coal

Australian coal exporters have experienced the biggest annual drop in thermal coal prices in more than a decade during 2019, raising doubts about industry projections that demand will continue to grow.

The spot price of thermal coal, which is burned to generate electricity, was US$66.20 ($95) last week, down more than a third from US$100.73 ($145) a year earlier.

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The National Trust says it's been a good year for migrant butterflies but not for water voles.

Scientists in the Seychelles have started the world's first large scale coral reef restoration project.

Environment secretary seeks another review, as flood victims promised further £1m

Ministers have ordered yet another review into why some flood-hit homes cannot get insurance and promised another £1m to help those affected after around 100 homes were hit over Christmas.

Theresa Villiers, the environment secretary, said she was commissioning an inquiry into why some flooded communities were unable to get sufficient insurance, despite an agreement between insurers and the government in 2015 that was supposed to mean everyone would have access to affordable cover.

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National Trust reports influx of species in 2019 but says climate is putting native wildlife at risk

Volatile weather led to an influx of exciting migrant species in 2019 but is putting pressure on some homegrown flora and fauna, according to an annual audit of the UK’s environment.

Many unusual birds and butterflies ended up on UK soil over the past 12 months, whisked in by high winds or attracted by unseasonably hot spells, and there was good news for native grey seals, dragonflies and wildflowers, the survey from the National Trust reveals.

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Some predators thrive after fires, other wilt – and one bird even starts them on purpose. Euan Ritchie, Associate Professor in Wildlife Ecology and Conservation, Centre for Integrative Ecology, School of Life & Environmental Sciences, Deakin University Ayesha Tulloch, DECRA Research Fellow, University of Sydney Dale Nimmo, Associate professor/ARC DECRA fellow, Charles Sturt University Tim Doherty, Alfred Deakin Post-doctoral Research Fellow, Deakin University William Geary, Deakin University Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.

Needing no soil or sun, an underground farm in Liverpool challenges traditional methods

Beautifully arranged rows of bok choi, parsley, tarragon and basil alongside dozens of variety of lettuce grow together in harmony under the pink glow of an LED light in a former sugar factory.

Water infused with nutrients trickles on to the green towers, keeping the rosettes hydrated and fed. This is a technically advanced indoor vertical farm buried deep in a basement at a former Tate & Lyle warehouse and now the Liverpool Life Sciences UTC.

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