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A longtime advocate for public lands, Terry Tempest Williams has been at the forefront of fighting for conservation. This year, she stepped into the firing line

One cold day last February, Terry Tempest Williams, a prominent environmental author and advocate, stepped into Utah’s Salt Palace to begin her unlikely career in the energy industry.

Salt Palace, Salt Lake City’s largest convention center, was hosting a federal oil and gas lease sale, at which the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) would auction off 45,000 acres of public land for oil and gas extraction.

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Cricieth, North Wales There was no horizon, no distinction in the grey tonality, no dividing line between sea and sky

A drab December greyness. I scrunched eastwards along the shingle, heading towards Black Rock. Foamy salients threatened to swamp my boots. My little terrier Phoebe darted in and out of the wavelets to retrieve sticks.

Here and there I paused to watch a raft of scoter (Melanitta nigra) offshore. Their dark shapes pulsed up and down on a smooth swell.

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Each summer for 40 years Nev and Bev McLachlan have camped on a remote Queensland beach to monitor and tag nesting sea turtles. Melissa Davey joins them on their mission

It’s about 7pm at the remote Wreck Rock beach within Deepwater national park in Queensland and Nev and Bev McLachlan are starting the night watch.

For the past 40 years the husband and wife have been travelling from their home on the Sunshine Coast to a tiny campsite about 140km north of Bundaberg, their enormous caravan full of camp supplies as well as turtle tagging and monitoring gear.

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Join Indira Naidoo, Amelia Telford and David Suzuki in this discussion which considers our links with the natural world.

From a majestic natural spectacle to a high-octane technological thrill ride, here's our guide to the big science events of 2017.

Millions of shorebirds fly between Australasia and the Arctic every year. They navigate over oceans using stars and magnetic fields, they sleep with half their brain at a time while they're on the wing. But for some of them, this will be the last flight.

The work of a number of the UK's leading scientists has been recognised in the New Year Honours.

Dr Martin Warren has saved at least three species from extinction, laying the ground for landscape-scale conservation

Every June on Exmoor and in woods near Canterbury, a fragile-looking golden butterfly called the heath fritillary flutters in the sunshine.

It would probably not grace summer woodlands and moors were it not for the efforts of Dr Martin Warren, a scientist and conservationist who has been awarded an OBE in the New Year honours list.

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Despite its alarming pollution levels, Delhi has seen an explosion in the number of private vehicles, while public transport is in decline, environmentalists warn.

Dozens of trade venues to be closed in the next three months, in a move activists are calling ‘a gamechanger’

China will ban all domestic ivory trade and processing by the end of 2017, state media reported on Friday, in a move hailed by activists as a gamechanger for Africa’s elephants.

African ivory is highly sought after in China where it is seen as a status symbol and prices for a kilo (2.2 pounds) can reach as much as $1,100 (£890).

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Ornithologists and volunteer twitchers search Kakadu National Park for the endangered yellow chat; goats make a meal of weeds in the Bega Valley; we visit a dairy farm with a difference - this one milks camels.

Activists camping out near Kirby Misperton where shale exploration by Third Energy has been approved by council

Protesters have called themselves the “frontline in the fight against fracking” as they prepare to camp out on New Year’s Eve by one of the two UK sites where the practice is has been given the go-ahead.

Activists moved on to private farmland near Kirby Misperton, North Yorkshire, just before Christmas, after the high court rejected a legal move to stop plans for fracking at a well south-west of the village.

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China announces a ban on all ivory trade and processing activities by the end of 2017.

While we love the beach and the backyard pool, a dip in the Yarra or Swan has become anathema to us – but it wasn’t always so

Australia is world-famous as a swimming nation. We have a celebrated beach culture, not to mention more privately owned pools per capita than any other country. Yet few urban Australians would consider swimming in their city’s river.

Almost every major Australian city sits on the banks of a large river. But judging by online reactions to the suggestion of a dip in the Brisbane river, most people are worried about everything from ear infections to a painful death from brain-eating amoebae.

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Ladle Hill, Hampshire This neat circle of blue is the only unfrozen water for a kilometre in each direction

Refreshed by the labour of the climb, my legs nonetheless argue for respite on the crest of the hill. And, just as it does on the map, the dewpond appears a little way below me as a neat circle of blue reflecting a flawless sky on a day of hard frost.

The pond is at the very top of the downs. On one side is flint-spewing earth, which in summer is covered in a yellow cowl of rapeseed. And on the other is grazing pasture capping the concentric earthen rings of the iron age fort that stands sentinel on the hill’s northern ridge. The lightest of winds twitches the smears of wool caught on wire barbs. Up here ‘There is no life higher than the grasstops / Or the hearts of sheep…’, as Sylvia Plath wrote of the West Yorkshire moors in Wuthering Heights, her poem of exquisite introspection.

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The artist says her undeniably sad portraits of bleached coral on the Great Barrier Reef are about resilience: ‘It’s not a fragile delicate flower … it’s so important to be optimistic and do what we can to protect it’

Laura Jones is pained by the delicate balance she wants to strike. Her paintings of coral bleaching are going to be engulfing, immersive and undeniably sad. But she wants them to express hope and resilience, too.

It’s something she keeps coming back to before, during and after I visit her studio, where she is preparing a major exhibition.

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Here's a selection of the most inspiring findings in archaeology revealed this year.

Oceanographers are busy mapping the powerful underwater eddies that have proved a major hazard to submariners

Rows of tall buildings channel the breeze, turning streets into wind tunnels and creating whirlwinds. A similar effect underwater may be deadly.

Tidal currents can produce giant whirlpools. Some, like the famous Maelstrom off the Norwegian coast, have been known as shipping hazards for centuries. Their destructive power feeds mythology; Maelstrom is the home of the mythical Kraken, which drags ships down, while regular whirlpools in the straits of Messina are blamed on the fearsome Charybdis.

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As urban populations around the globe skyrocket and the demand for housing grows, space is increasingly at a premium in cities. Unfortunately, despite some notable efforts to include green space in cities, native wildlife is not often a priority for urban planners, despite research showing the benefits it brings to both people and ecosystems.

It may seem that bringing biodiversity back into cities would require large areas of land set aside for habitat restoration. But it is possible to use relatively small spaces such as transport corridors, verges and the edges of sporting grounds. Think of it as “land sharing” rather than “land sparing”“.

The idea of transforming public areas in cities into green space is not a new one. Allotment vegetable gardens, which have long been a staple of British suburban life, are enjoying a revival, as are community gardens in Australia.

These gardens are obviously great for sustainable food production and community engagement. But we think similar efforts should be directed towards creating green spaces filled with native vegetation, so that local wildlife might thrive too.

Benefits for biodiversity

Cities can be hostile environments for wildlife, and although some rare species are still present in some cities, the destruction of habitats and growth of built-up areas has led to many localised extinctions. Often, species are left clinging on in particular reserves or habitat remnants. "Green corridors” through the built environment can link these habitat fragments together and help stop urban species from being marooned in small patches – and this is where native gardens can help.

Cities are often built in fertile areas on coasts, and because of their fertility are often home to large numbers of species, which means that planting native vegetation in public spaces can potentially help a wide range of different species.

A study in Melbourne found that native vegetation in urban green space is essential for conservation of native pollinators, as introduced plants only benefit introduced bees. But with the right habitat, even small mammals such as bandicoots can survive in urban areas.

Benefits for people

Native green space in cities can also be used to educate communities about their wildlife. Community gardens can be a very effective way to bring people together and create a sense of identity and cohesion within a community.

Native landscaping in playgrounds. Simon Pawley, Sustainable Outdoors

Many people in cities have little or no contact with nature, and this “extinction of experience” can make them feel apathetic about conservation. Green space lets city dwellers connect with nature, and if these spaces contain native rather than introduced plants, they have the added benefit of familiarising people with their native flora, creating a stronger sense of cultural identity.

Where to share

There are many places in urban areas that can be tinkered with to encourage native species, with little or no disruption to their intended use. Picture the typical Australian park, for example: large expanses of grass and some isolated gum trees. Biodiverse systems are more complex, featuring tall trees, smaller ones, shrubs, herbs and grasses, which together create diverse habitat for a range of species. So by building native garden beds around single trees, at the park’s edges, or within designated areas (even among playgrounds!), we can gain complex layers of habitats for our native animals without losing too much picnic space.

We think of verges as places to park our cars or wheelie bins, but these grass borders are another underused area where we could plant native gardens. This not only improves the aesthetics of the streetscape but also reduces water use and the need to mow.

Verge gardens. Simon Pawley, Sustainable Outdoors

Australia is a sporting nation and our sports grounds are cherished features of the urban landscape, yet there are plenty of opportunities here for native vegetation. The average golf course, for instance, only uses two-thirds of its area for actual golf (unless you’re a very bad shot). The out-of-bounds areas nestled between the fairways offer plenty of space for native biodiversity. Likewise, the boundaries of sporting ovals are ideal locations for native vegetation borders.

Even infrastructure corridors such as train lines, electricity corridors, and the edges of highways have the potential to contribute to the functioning of local ecosystems.

Making it happen

As the existence of community gardens and Landcare groups shows, there is already a drive within local communities to make these ideas a reality. In fact, some groups of “guerrilla gardeners” are so passionate about urban greening that they dedicate their own time and resources towards creating green public space, often without permission.

But urban gardening doesn’t need to be illegal. Many councils in Australia have policies that encourage the planting of native plants in private gardens, with some even offering rebates for native landscaping projects.

Ultimately we need to both share and spare urban landscapes. By conserving habitat fragments and planting native gardens to connect these patches, we can bring native plants and animals back into our cities.

Lizzy Lowe's Endeavour Postdoctoral Fellowship is funded by The Australian Government Department of Education and Training

Margaret Stanley does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond the academic appointment above.