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Reversal came after political intervention by the Queensland government

Attempts by the federal government to stop potentially unlawful clearing in Queensland were reversed after political intervention, with a highly unusual apology letter sent to every landholder suspected of planning unlawful clearing at the direct request of the minister, documents obtained by the Guardian under FOI laws reveal.

In December 2015 and January 2016, the federal department of environment took the exceptional step of asking 51 landholders with approval from the Queensland government to clear their land, to explain why the clearing wasn’t unlawful under federal environmental law.

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Threatened species, pressure on Great Barrier Reef and climate change all worsened by full-blown land-clearing crisis

Australia is in the midst of a full-blown land-clearing crisis. Projections suggest that in the two decades to 2030, 3 million hectares of untouched forest will have been bulldozed in eastern Australia.

The crisis is driven primarily by a booming livestock industry but is ushered in by governments that fail to introduce restrictions and refuse to apply existing restrictions.

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Demand from Chinese workers raises demand for skin and body parts of endangered species

Conservationists who have uncovered a growing illegal trade in jaguar fangs in South America are linking it to Chinese construction projects that could be threatening wildlife globally.

Experts say major Chinese power plant, road and rail works in developing nations are key stimulants of illicit trade in the skins, bones and horns of endangered animals.

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Campaigners want inquiry into overall strategy to examine how effective culling has been

The government is to review the controversial badger cull as part of an inquiry into its strategy to clamp down on bovine TB.

The review raises the possibility that experts conducting it will examine disputed evidence about the cull’s efficacy, potentially paving the way for a change in policy.

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Consumers don't have to pay an additional price for getting their food in environment friendly packaging.

Caroline Lucas derides ‘fluffy communications strategy’ and ‘inadequate’ action on plastics

The Conservative party’s rhetoric on the environment is a “fluffy communications strategy” when change on plastics could happen in half the time pledged, the co-leader of the Greens has said ahead of her party conference speech.

Caroline Lucas will use her speech on Saturday in Bournemouth to call for petrol and diesel-only new cars to be phased out by 2030 and a deposit return scheme on drinks containers to be launched by the end of the year.

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Inshriach, Aviemore Tracks revealed the badger and I had been cohabiting all this time. I just wasn’t looking hard enough

The bothy at Inshriach sits alone in a clearing, with a view through the trees across the Spey to the Monadhliath mountains. When I arrive, all this is under a foot of snow: juniper hunched over with the weight of it, silver birch cryptic against its white backdrop, the whole glade swathed in mist. The sunlit uplands to the north are glossy and white like Italian meringue, dolloped on with a spoon.

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The body-hackers who believe chips under the skin could replace keys and wallets in future.

Police in Honduras arrest the suspected mastermind in the murder of Berta Caceres.

Coal. There was very little in South Australia.

House lawmakers say Russia helped fund environmentalists and supported them on social media, but evidence is thin

A powerful US congressional committee has alleged that Russia financed major environmental organizations and used social media to support opponents of the Dakota Access pipeline, fracking and fossil fuels.

The Republican-controlled committee claimed in a new report that the Kremlin is attempting to make “‘useful idiots’ of unwitting environmental groups and activists” to further its global agenda.

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Two genetic studies has shed light on the epic journeys that led to the settlement of the vast Pacific region by humans.

Storm Emma combined with snow has been causing havoc across the UK.

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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Climate change is causing the season to start comparatively earlier the further north you go, say scientists

The Arctic spring is arriving 16 days earlier than it did a decade ago, according to a new study which shows climate change is shifting the season earlier more dramatically the further north you go.

The research, published on Friday in the journal Scientific Reports, comes amid growing concern about the warming of Greenland, Siberia, Alaska and other far northern regions, which have recently experienced unusually prolonged and frequent midwinter temperature spikes.

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Olive ridley sea turtles, a sparrowhawk and Europe’s highest sand dune are among this week’s pick of images from the natural world

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Over 1.5m penguins, the largest population on the Antarctic Peninsula, has been found on the Danger Islands.

Climate change is forcing indigenous people to find new ways to survive as a remote village of 600 grapples with rapid erosion

At the edge of an imperiled Alaska town, Dennis Davis sent a drone over a patchwork of ice covering the Chukchi Sea.

“Some people think it’s a toy, but a lot of people know that it’s an actual tool,” he said of the $5,000, microwave-sized machine with a camera mounted to a carbon fiber frame. As snowmachines zoomed past, Davis, 39, a resident and former police officer, looked at the pictures that were beamed back.

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The UK-led expedition to the waters around the world's biggest iceberg is forced to turn around.

Scientists stumble across a huge group of previously unknown Adélie penguins on the Antarctic Peninsula.