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We take a measure of China's commitment to decarbonisation

Sir John Sulston is elevated to the Companion of Honour in the Queen’s birthday list.

Interview with anthropologist José Proaño on dangers to indigenous peoples in “isolation” posed by timber trade

Three NGOs in Ecuador marked the UN’s World Environment Day last week by releasing a report alleging that illegal loggers are operating in the famous Yasuní National Park in the Amazon, one of the most biodiverse places in the world. The loggers are crossing the border from Peru and mainly extracting cedar from territories used by indigenous peoples living in “isolation”, according to the NGOs.

The report focuses on a reconnaissance trip made in May which documented illegal logging in the park, as well as “massive” commercial hunting and the abandonment of premises supposedly run by the Environment Ministry and military. The trip was made, the report states, after several government visits to the region in recent years which confirmed that illegal loggers and hunters were operating, but led to almost no action being taken to stop them. On one occasion illegal wood was confiscated, but it was recovered by Peruvian loggers, it is claimed, in a “possible violent attack against [an Ecuadorian] military post.”

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Volunteers help unearth Aboriginal rock art in the Blue Mountains; English-born chef Tim Burn calls the outback town of Tibooburra home; and 'chicken couture' for a brood of featherless chooks.

The week’s top environment news stories and green events. If you are not already receiving this roundup, sign up here to get the briefing delivered to your inbox

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A great white pelican, a slow loris and wildebeest on migration in the Masai Mara are among this week’s pick of images from the natural world

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Beaches in the remote Arctic islands were found to be more polluted than European ones due to plastic carried from much further south

Beaches on remote Arctic islands are heavily polluted with plastic, a new expedition has found, demonstrating that the region is the dumping ground for waste carried northwards on the Gulf Stream.

The shorelines of islands in the Svalbard archipelago and of Jan Mayen island were found to be littered with much more plastic waste than on European beaches, despite tiny local populations.

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Human activity is worsening the problem in an already rainy area, and there could be damage worthy of a disaster movie if a storm hits the industrial section

Sam Brody is not a real estate agent, but when his friends want to move home they get in touch to ask for advice. He is a flood impact expert in Houston – and he has plenty of work to keep him busy.

The Texas metropolis has more casualties and property loss from floods than any other locality in the US, according to data stretching back to 1960 that Brody researched with colleagues. And, he said, “Where the built environment is a main force exacerbating the impacts of urban flooding, Houston is number one and it’s not even close.”

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The world’s largest unbroken intertidal system and a haven for migratory birds on the Dutch coastline is at risk of sinking out of existence

The world’s largest unbroken intertidal system of sand and mud flats could sink beneath the waves by the end of the century due to sea level rise and subsidence caused by gas drills funded by Barclays and other international banks.

The Unesco world heritage site at the Wadden Sea on the Dutch coast stretches over 10,000 sq km. Its saltmarshes, sandy shoals, dunes and mussel beds host millions of migratory birds every year, as well as thousands of basking seals.

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Fabrice Monteiro travelled to the most polluted places in Africa and created terrifying characters who roamed their midst dressed in eerie debris. They are spirits, he says, on a mission to make humans change their ways

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Bleaklow, Derbyshire So sleek, quick and nimble, with butter-gold speckles on its back, this bird is a shy jewel of the moors

The sombre northern flank of Bleaklow has three Black Cloughs, differentiated with admirable directness as Near, Middle and Far. Clough is a northern word, likely Old Norse in origin, for a cleft in a hill.

The overall effect is familiar enough – bleak, desolate, country. But look more closely and the contrasts are spectacular.

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Report finds 5kW-plus rooftop solar systems offer best bang for buck, no matter household energy profile – even if all generation exported to grid.

It'll be a tough journey - previous robots sent in to the ruined nuclear reactor didn't make it back.

The Threatened Species Scientific Committee is seeking comments on the eligibility of Trachystoma petardi (pinkeye mullet) for inclusion on the EPBC Act threatened species list. Comments close 4 August 2017.

The Threatened Species Scientific Committee is seeking comments on the eligibility of Pseudocheirus occidentalis (western ringtail possum) for inclusion on the EPBC Act threatened species list. Comments close 31 July 2017.

Tesla to deploy multiple 250kW/500kWh Powerpack systems for NSW network operator TransGrid, to help store and smooth solar supply.

Climate Council report says “clean coal” won't meet Australia's most basic climate obligations – and would need electricity prices to rise four-fold to earn sufficient revenue to be viable.

AEMO report shows rooftop solar reducing and shifting peaks, and likely to gather pace as costs fall and grid prices rise.

Regional and remote Australia’s leading advisory and technical consultancy firm, CAT Projects, announced that from today the company will be trading as Ekistica.

The Threatened Species Scientific Committee is seeking comments on the proposal to list the Assemblage of species associated with open-coast salt-wedge estuaries of western and central Victoria ecological community as an endangered ecological...