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With austerity eviscerating their budgets, councils are renting out public land to generate income

When the mill owner Joseph Strutt cut the ribbon on the Derby Arboretum in 1840, entry came with a caveat. This landscaped sweep, one of the first public parks in England, was only open to the public on Sundays and Wednesdays. For the rest of the week, its fountains and pathways were reserved for paying customers, whose entry fees effectively subsidised the park.

The system was scrapped in 1882, as the growing concern for public health among Victorian reformers accelerated the creation of open public parks in towns and cities across England. Anyone can now stroll through Derby’s arboretum. But another form of gatekeeping is taking place in parks today. Councils that have seen their budgets eviscerated by austerity are finding ways to turn parks into cash-generating assets, often by renting stretches of the land to fenced-off commercial events.

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Experts ask the public to be on the lookout for the invasive species and kill them and their brood to protect US plant life

Experts are urging the US public to start keeping an eye out for the spotted lanternfly, an invasive species harmless, if irritating, to humans, but known to wreak havoc on plant life and agriculture.

Experts believe that spotted lanternflies entered the US in a shipping crate. Native to China, they were first detected in Pennsylvania in 2014 and have since spread to at least 14 states.

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Wildlife presenter urges people to join action on climate crisis during mass protest supported by more than 200 organisations

Wildlife presenter Chris Packham has made a rallying call for “every last person who cares” about the planet to join Extinction Rebellion after thousands took part in a demonstration on Saturday.

The 61-year-old broadcaster spoke to the crowd from a stage close to Parliament Square, Westminster, during the second day of a mass protest the climate group has called The Big One.

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Hundreds of dead birds found in past three weeks as conservationists call for international funding to help stop the disease spreading on migration routes

An outbreak of avian influenza in seabirds in the Gambia could affect vast numbers of birds migrating along the East Atlantic Flyway, unless international funding is secured, warn conservationists.

Teams from the West African Bird Study Association (Wabsa), the Gambia’s Department of Parks and Wildlife Management, and UK-based NGO Conservation Without Borders have buried hundreds of dead birds over the past three weeks, including some ringed birds from Europe.

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Sunday’s event in Peak District will mark anniversary of Kinder Scout protest, seen as crucial in establishing right to roam in UK

Up to 1,000 swimmers are expected to head to Kinder reservoir in Derbyshire on Sunday in the biggest trespass of the water to date. The turnout will mark the anniversary of a mass trespass that helped establish the principle of the right to roam in the UK.

The swim trespass of Kinder reservoir, situated below Kinder Scout where the 1932 protest took place, has become an annual event and is growing rapidly with the boom in wild swimming.

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Denis Hayes, who coordinated the first event in 1970, denounces fossil fuel companies that use the event to get positive publicity

Corporate greenwashing should not undermine the message behind Earth Day and has nothing to do with its original aims, one of the founders of the annual environmental event has warned.

Denis Hayes, the American environmental activist who coordinated the first Earth Day in 1970, denounced the “appalling” environmental messaging by oil, gas and other extractive companies and said he hoped it did not distract attention from the threats posed by the climate crisis and biodiversity loss, which he compared to the threat of nuclear conflict during the cold war.

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Biodiversity crisis leads horticulturalists to highlight gardeners’ role in conserving wild flora and fauna

In not so distant times, a list of garden wildlife for many horticulturalists could have been a list of deadly enemies, containing aphids, slugs, snails and other creatures previously thought of as irritants.

But as awareness of the biodiversity crisis grows, horticulturalists have become more aware of the importance of wild flora and fauna, and the important role gardeners can play in conserving it.

Lichens

Native ladybirds

Pollinators

Solitary bees (Aculeate hymenoptera)

Sulphur tuft fungi (Hypholoma fasciculare)

Slime moulds

Rose chafer beetle (Cetonia aurata)

Ink cap mushrooms

Hoverflies

Social wasps

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

I felt his body glide against my back. Why does this whiskery creature want to get so close?

This summer, after a bad run of migraines and perplexing ill-health, I decided to try cold-water immersion. And yes, it’s possible I had listened to a few too many podcasts on the topic but, also, I was looking for an achievable goal.

The property I live on in northern New South Wales is bordered by a creek, which, despite being summer, stays remarkably cool. There is a water hole, and I’m hopeful that if I create the cold-water immersion habit in warmer weather I can move into the cooler months. I’m planning ahead.

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You want to do more about climate change, but how do you persuade the people who call the shots?

Financial entities raised their California Carbon Allowance (CCA) holdings to levels not seen since last winter, while emitters similarly boosted their North American carbon market net positions as WCI prices soared to 7-month highs, data from the US Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) showed Friday.

A summary of legislative, regulatory, and policy action on carbon, clean fuel standard, and clean energy markets at the US federal and subnational levels this week, including the advancement of several climate bills in the California Senate, a court decision on a Maine hydroelectricity line, Vermont's Affordable Heat Act passing the House, and a carbon offsets bill in Texas.

The US Department of Commerce is recommending $562 million from the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law be used to fund climate resilience projects across 30 states, Vice President Kamala Harris announced on Friday.

The Chilean government this week published a resolution that will prevent renewable electricity providers from having to pay into the country’s $5/tonne carbon tax which subsidised fossil fuel-fired generation.

The UK ETS is instrumental in achieving the country's net zero emissions goals and enhancing opportunities for carbon investors, but the British government's commitment to implementing reforms necessary for a robust carbon market has been overlooked amid the mainstream media’s focus on the lack of green industry incentives, write Ruben Lubowski and Callum Lee, Lombard Odier Investment Managers.

Portugal's carbon tax for air- and sea-based travel will be extended to private jet flights with a capacity of up to 19 passengers.

Efforts to create an EU carbon removals market face an uphill struggle as the option is set to be disregarded by the lead lawmaker on the issue, according to parliamentary sources.

Strong regulation on tokenising climate and biodiversity credits is urgently needed to avoid claims of greenwashing and mis-selling to consumers, a think-tank warned Friday, adding that the environmental impact of mining crypto assets was downplayed in legislation passed by the bloc's parliament this week.

A first-of-its kind technology to filter environmental DNA (eDNA) from air samples to monitor terrestrial biodiversity will scale as a commercial service from a collaboration announced Friday, on the heels of an eDNA marine sampling partnership launched earlier in the week.

Environmentalists decry move but natural resources minister says doubling of Vancouver terminal’s size is needed to meet demand

Canada’s federal government has approved a controversial container terminal expansion in Vancouver that would double the port’s current size but could have damaging effects for maritime species already on the brink of extinction, environmental groups warn.

The country’s natural resources minister announced support for the Port of Vancouver’s plan – which would effectively double the size of the Roberts Bank Terminal – framing the decision as a way of preventing future backlog.

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