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The first national ‘tree champion’ is charged with reversing the fortunes of the country’s woodlands and beleaguered urban trees

England is running out of oak. The last of the trees planted by the Victorians are now being harvested, and in the intervening century so few have been grown – and fewer still grown in the right conditions for making timber – that imports, mostly from the US and Europe, are the only answer.

“We are now using the oaks our ancestors planted, and there has been no oak coming up to replace it,” says Mike Tustin, chartered forester at John Clegg and Co, the woodland arm of estate agents Strutt and Parker. “There is no oak left in England. There just is no more.”

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Inquiry initiated by Greens follows Guardian investigation exposing funding and management failings

The Senate has launched an inquiry into Australia’s threatened species crisis after an investigation of national threatened species management by Guardian Australia revealed problems including poor monitoring and a lack of funding.

The inquiry, initiated by Greens senator Janet Rice and supported by Labor and crossbenchers on Wednesday, will examine issues including the country’s alarming rate of species decline, the adequacy of Commonwealth laws that are supposed to protect threatened wildlife, and the effectiveness of funding for threatened species.

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The government-funded program was designed to reduce polluted run-off to the reef

Agriculture industry groups have refused to show the Queensland government the results of a government-funded program that aims to improve Great Barrier Reef water quality.

The Queensland Audit Office, in a report to parliament, said the farming industry groups had withheld data about the best management practices program due to “privacy concerns” and that its effectiveness might be “overstated”.

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Dolgellau, Gwynedd: The similarity of this corner of Wales to the landscape of the southern Lake District is striking

The path by the Afon Wnion was liberally scattered with small branches and twigs still carrying tattered leaves, the debris of the storm the previous night. The wind had moderated slightly but the flag on St Mary’s church still stood out strongly from the pole on the tower. Beyond it, the severe northern flanks of Cadair Idris slid in and out of focus as clouds swept across the mountain, their speed reinforcing my doubts about taking a high-level route alone. Today, I decided, was one for the lowlands – a decision that, coincidentally, allowed time for a cooked breakfast.

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Baker McKenzie successfully represented a syndicate of lenders on the successful refinancing of 50% interest in the Macarthur Wind Farm.

Feral rabbits previously exposed to myxoma virus are more likely to be killed by rabbit haemorrhagic diease, meaning that these two biocontrol agents can become even more powerful when used in tandem. Corey Bradshaw, Matthew Flinders Fellow in Global Ecology, Flinders University Louise Barnett, Adjunct researcher, Flinders University Thomas Prowse, Postdoctoral research fellow, School of Mathematical Sciences, University of Adelaide Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.

A Japanese spacecraft has arrived at a diamond-shaped asteroid where it will collect rock samples.

In a country of more than 17000 islands, seaweed might be the ideal raw material for a bio-plastics revolution.

Indonesia produces more marine plastic pollution than any other country except China. This is perhaps unsurprising: the world’s biggest archipelago is also its fourth most populous. Limited income and cash flow means that poorer communities rely on cheap single-use plastics like bags, water cups and shampoo sachets. Waste management systems are rudimentary and each year millions of tonnes of trash ends up in waterways and eventually the ocean.

Last year Indonesia pledged US$1 billion to cut its marine waste by 70% by 2025. The country will have to tackle the issue on multiple fronts if this ambitious target is to be met. Besides changing consumer habits and improving waste management infrastructure, industry needs to move away from single use plastics and quickly introduce and scale up biodegradable alternatives.

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The returned Liberal state government announced that it would “begin [a] review of the Solar FiT” in its first 100 days. It's been 103 days with no public information released.

A university campus has cut the use of disposable cups with a simple change.

Renewable energy is a much better choice than coal fired generation, in terms of both costs and jobs.

One man with an idea showcases the potential of EV's and how sustainability can be applied to everyday life by driving an EV to Australia – with no money.

ARENA says Australia utility-scale solar prices has plunged to “somewhere in the $50s” today, while BNEF says China module surplus could lower prices further in Australia by end of the year.

Hyundai and Wärtsilä to target both utility-scale and commercial applications which can suitably use second-life EV batteries.

European Union funded project looks at how electric vehicles could be charged wirelessly - via the road itself.

Despite best efforts by Coalition government to stop it, Australia will end up with 33% renewables by 2020, will likely get to 40% by 2030, and has enough in pipeline to reach 85%.

Urban bumblebees have better access to food, allowing them to produce more offspring

Bumblebee colonies fare better in villages and cities than in fields, research has revealed.

Bumblebees are important pollinators, but face threats including habitat loss, climate change, pesticide and fungicide use and parasites. Now researchers say that bumblebee colonies in urban areas not only produce more offspring than those on agricultural land, but have more food stores, fewer invasions from parasitic “cuckoo” bumblebees, and survive for longer.

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A daily summary of our news plus bite-sized updates from around the world.

In echoes of the mining lobby's war on the mining tax, the Business Council vows to fight higher renewable energy targets, even as many big corporates turn to wind and solar and new data suggests that Australia will already have reached 33% renewable by 2030.

The EPA published preliminary 2019 renewable volume obligations (RVOs) for the federal Renewable Fuels Standard (RFS) on Tuesday, with the biofuels industry arguing that the modest increases in the yearly quotas were more than cancelled out by the agency’s failure to act on several compliance waivers issued this year.