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Exclusive: Marine Park Authority scaled back surveys in 2017, when mass bleaching occurred in successive years for first time

The Australian government-funded Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority drastically scaled back surveys of coral bleaching in the middle of an unprecedented two-year marine heatwave, as its monitoring program almost ran out of money.

The authority’s field management program conducted more than 660 in-water surveys of reefs in 2016, during the first of two consecutive mass bleaching events. The program’s annual report said those surveys “played a key role in determining the extent of mortality caused”.

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This team of women are protecting elephants in the South African bush from ivory poachers.

Dozens of scientists, Helen Czerski among them, are at work in the Arctic, seeking answers to questions that profoundly affect the future of everyone on the planet

I am standing on the ocean. Ahead of me, the world is split into two perfect halves: blue sky above, white sea ice below. The view is clean and simple, but a continuous waltz of swirling and shunting is hidden inside those two colours: the inner workings of the Arctic engine.

This place is special for many reasons, and to appreciate one of the most unusual all I need to do is to live; to breathe. The air is -2C, but the air coming from my lungs is invisible. The familiar wisps of cold breath that I associate with crisp winter air in Britain are absent. They cannot form here. And that anomaly is connected in a fundamental way to our presence here, on a scientific expedition to study this environment. For two months, the Swedish icebreaker Oden is home to 74 of us, living and working at the top of the world to tap into the stories that the blue and the white have to tell.

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A new technique picks out patterns in DNA mutation within cancers to forecast future genetic changes.

Glenda Elliott has spent her life caring for injured, sick and orphaned Australian wildlife and then once rehabilitated, releasing them back into the wild.

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

Government has not come to terms with ‘unprecedented’ water shortages, NSW Greens MP says

Water flows into the Sydney drinking water catchment are at a record low and less than half than they were during the millennium drought last decade, prompting more concern about the city’s water security.

Previously the lowest inflows into the catchment had been 136 gigalitres in 1944. In 2004, during the height of Sydney’s last water shortage during the millennium drought they fell to 234 gigalitres.

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Government says it’s ‘very concerned’ about Tokyo’s ‘sustainable’ quotas, but hasn’t committed to sending minister

• Clashes expected over Japan’s bid to resume commercial whaling
  

Australia will call for Japan’s push to reintroduce commercial whaling to be rejected at the critical upcoming International Whaling Commission meeting in Brazil.

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Scientists believe a genetic code could help protect golden eagles in the wild.

Amateur palaeontologists dig up marine fossils; dry weather forces feral camels south; and horses and high fashion at the Louth country race meeting.

EU carbon held above €21 on Friday in another volatile session that cemented a huge gain for August, though observers say prices could come under pressure next week as auction volumes return to normal.

UK emitters will be required to participate in a cross-EU data collection exercise in 2019 to help the bloc plan for the next phase of the EU ETS, the British government has told plant operators, adding that the data could help it design its own post-Brexit carbon pricing system.

UK researchers decode the golden eagle genome - the blueprint for the 'king of birds'.

California lawmakers’ rush to approve climate-related bills ahead of Friday’s deadline for the 2-year legislative session continued this week, including bills designed to eliminate the release of potent heat-trapping gasses and allow for more forest clearing in an effort to prevent wildfires.

A baby freen sea turtle, a grizzly bear and her cubs, and a grey-headed flying fox are among this week’s pick of images from the natural world

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Former head of Greenpeace UK and Labour peer revered as fearless campaigner

Peter Melchett, the environmental campaigner and Labour peer, has died aged 71.

Lord Melchett, who lived in Norfolk, became the executive director of Greenpeace UK in 1989 and was most recently policy director of the Soil Association.

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Closing prices, ranges and volumes for China's regional pilot carbon markets this week.

Australian waste specialist firm LMS Energy this week received over 840,000 carbon credits for emission reductions at landfill sites across the nation.

China’s Guangdong province has suspended its regional carbon offset programme, as the local government wants to improve the mechanism before issuing further credits.

Researchers say underwater drone can monitor coral bleaching and inject coral-eating starfish with vinegar

An underwater drone that can keep watch over the Great Barrier Reef’s health and kill invading species is ready to be put to the test.

Researchers from Queensland University of Technology say their robot reef protector can monitor coral bleaching, water quality, pest species, pollution and sediment buildup.

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