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The Prince of Wales is joining an Anglo-French initiative to improve the condition of the world's soils.

Scientists have carried out their first test flight of a project to measure UK air pollution from the air.

Police arrested more than 120 people at a Native American oil pipeline protest at the Standing Rock reservation, including Sara Lafleur-Vetter, the journalist and film-maker who captured this video. Protesters say the proposed oil pipeline threatens the Standing Rock reservation’s water supply and cultural heritage

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Can Australia achieve fair and open decision-making when big coal players are involved? The case of Adani’s proposed Carmichael coal mine suggests the answer is no, and Indigenous land owners are bearing the brunt.

The Queensland government’s recent decision to declare the mine “critical infrastructure” grants the Queensland Coordinator General extraordinary powers to progress the development.

Yet the highly contentious mine continues to face criticism for its environmental impacts, as well as financial woes, as well as active resistance from traditional land owners in the region, represented by the Wangan and Jagalingou Traditional Owners council.

Carmichael in court

The mine has now faced several court challenges, including lawsuits on the basis of groundwater and biodiversity, climate change (including the burning of coal and its impacts for global warming and the Great Barrier Reef), and questions over whether it is economically viable and in the public interest.

While the decisions have generally fallen in favour of the mine, they have provided a platform for experts to expose the project’s impacts and the current limitations of environmental laws. They have also secured additional environmental conditions for the project’s approval.

The Carmichael mine is also a battleground for human rights concerns and specifically the rights of Indigenous peoples. The Wangan and Jagalingou Traditional Owners council are engaged in several legal cases that could impact on the licensing of the project, leading to further delays, investment risk, and leases and agreements being overturned.

Wangan and Jagalingou council say the mine will “tear the heart out” of their ancestral lands, which is why they remain resolute in saying no to a land deal with Adani and the atate. These challenges sit outside the current powers of the Coordinator General and are at the intersection of Australia’s native title system and the rights of Indigenous peoples under international law and conventions.

For Indigenous communities, the mine’s Indigenous Participation Plan would deliver the equivalent of a paltry A$5,000 for each person living in the region each year, a scenario described by one traditional owner as “not a future for Aboriginal people, it’s a scam”.

Sidelining dissenting voices

Besides championing coal, state and federal ministers have repeatedly called for significant winding back of environmental (and other) laws that regulate mining, thereby closing down options to oppose the coal industry’s expansion.

Eroding the rights of activists and watering down laws is part and parcel of the approaches to marginalise dissenting voices, and thereby eroding democracy.

These approaches include expediting court processes to constrain landholders’ rights to object to proposed mines, and reducing the scope and legitimacy of environmental and social impact assessments.

Meanwhile, those who challenge the growth of Australia’s coal industry - including environmentalists, Indigenous rights activists, progressive philanthropists and lawyers - are labelled “irresponsible” and economic saboteurs.

Recent news that environmental groups have received funding from donors in the United States are being used to misrepresent opposition to Australia’s coal industry as driven by foreign interests.

Yet what the array of environmental and Indigenous legal cases against Adani powerfully demonstrate is the tireless commitment of (often volunteer) local, regional, and in some cases national, organisations and groups, as well as public interest lawyers, seeking to engage in democratic legal processes to shore up sound decision making, as well as the future for the regions in which many of these activists live.

In response, Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull has indicated he may revisit laws to prevent environmental groups taking projects like the Carmichael mine to court, harking back to a debate started by Attorney-General George Brandis last year.

The Indigenous rights agenda

In the case of the Wangan and Jagalingou Traditional Owners council, this campaigning occurs despite severe disadvantages (as documented during a recent visit by the UN Special Rapporteur), including severe pressure from mining companies.

It is also curious to note that amid the flurry of recent media coverage of anti-coal activism, Indigenous opposition to the Carmichael mine has been largely whited out of the story, except where traditional owners are insulted as simply bit players under the influence of the environmental movement.

This is despite the sustained opposition to the mine from the Wangan and Jagalingou Traditional Owners’, who have said no to Adani three times. By ignoring them, government and media fail to acknowledge the Indigenous rights-based challenge to the Carmichael mine, and the campaign which could unravel the thin veneer of native title on which the state relies to sanction the project.

By saying no to Adani, Wangan and Jagalingou council are leaders in the global climate change and human rights movement. They are at the forefront in carving out a path that challenges Australia to meet its international responsibilities.

It remains to be seen whether Australia has the vision and courage to commit to a human rights agenda in grappling with the challenges of climate change and energy transition. Respecting Traditional Owners’ right to say “no deal” to Adani would be a great start.

Kristen Lyons is a member of the Australian Greens and policy think tanks the Oakland Institute and the Ngara Institute.

As Chris Grayling makes assurances on fares, jobs and UK-wide benefits, runway opponents say their battle has just begun

Heathrow has promised an immediate economic boost from the government’s go-ahead for a third runway by letting new contracts related to the £17.6bn project within a fortnight.

However, airlines questioned whether the airport could be expanded without raising fares for passengers as the cost is likely to be passed on to carriers and their customers.

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Report says industry’s true carbon emissions could easily amount to twice the emissions Australia promised to cut by 2030

The coal-seam-gas industry could be vastly underestimating its emissions, jeopardising Australia’s commitments made at Paris and swamping any benefits gas has over coal, according to a landmark report by the Melbourne Energy Institute, commissioned by The Australia Institute.

The report found the industry’s true emissions could easily amount to twice the emissions Australia has promised to cut by 2030.

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The International Energy Agency says that the world's capacity to generate electricity from renewable sources has now overtaken coal.

Elite rat team to begin by spotting illegal shipments of pangolins, the world’s most trafficked animal, at ports in Tanzania

The US government will fund the training of a team of giant rats to combat illegal wildlife trafficking in Africa.

An elite group of African giant pouched rats will be used at ports, initially in Tanzania, to detect illegal shipments of pangolins – the world’s most trafficked animal, which has been pushed towards extinction due to the trade in its scales and skins – as well as hardwood timber.

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Science Minister Jo Johnson and Prof Martyn Poliakoff mix politics and science to look at carbon dioxide and the acidification of oceans.

The mysterious hexagon at Saturn's northern pole has changed colour from blue to gold, scientists have said.

Speaking on Tuesday, Boris Johnson, the UK foreign secretary, comments on the decision to build a third runway at Heathrow and says the project is ‘undeliverable’. Johnson adds that no other world city would dream of pursuing a similar project and create more noise pollution for its its suburban residents

• Heathrow expansion: Zac Goldsmith to resign over third runway decision - live

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Report finds mining, leather tanning, rubbish dumps and the dye industry among the most polluting industries harming health and causing early death

The backyard recycling of lead-acid car batteries is the number one source of chemical pollution in the world’s poorer nations and leads to millions of years of healthy life being lost, according to a new report.

The World’s Worst Pollution Problems, published by NGOs Pure Earth and Green Cross Switzerland on Tuesday, reveals the top 10 most polluting industries in low and middle-income countries.

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Six years after Cameron vowed no third runway, people in village set for part-demolition angry government now backs airport’s expansion

In Harmondsworth, one of the villages scheduled to be partly or wholly demolished to make way for Heathrow’s third runway, there was little shock but considerable distress and anger when the government’s decision was confirmed.

Neil Keveren, whose house will face the boundary fence of the new runway, said residents felt “betrayed” six years after David Cameron’s “no ifs, no buts” commitment that there would be no third runway at Heathrow.

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The transport secretary, Chris Grayling, praises the approved expansion of Heathrow airport on Tuesday. Grayling says the move shows that, following the Brexit referendum, the UK remains open for business, adding that the committee thought long and hard about the decision before settled on a third runway at Heathrow. He adds that Heathrow’s third runway is best for the whole country and offers another step ‘that works for everyone’

Heathrow expansion decision condemned by senior Tories - live updates

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Transport secretary hails ‘truly momentous’ move but widespread protests and legal challenges are expected to follow decision

A third runway is to be built at Heathrow, the government has decided, paving the way for hundreds of thousands more flights a year at the airport in west London.

In a long-awaited response, ministers have endorsed the recommendation of the Airports Commission to expand Heathrow rather than Gatwick airport, which had hoped to build a second runway.

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Emails sent to Hillary Clinton’s campaign chairman John Podesta reveal $3m campaign aimed to put media mogul ‘on the defensive’ and help conservative politicians support global warming action

A well-funded international campaign to counter the influence of Rupert Murdoch’s media empire on climate change has been planned, emails to Hillary Clinton’s campaign chairman reveal.

The plan to use “guerilla tactics”, civil disobedience and targeted advertising appears to have been hatched by David Fenton, founder of Fenton Communications, a US public relations agency.

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People living in Harmondsworth, Sipson and Harlington share their views on how they will be affected

Heathrow will get a third runway after the government gave the go ahead on Tuesday, paving the way for hundreds of thousands more flights a year at the airport in west London.

In a long-awaited response, ministers have endorsed the recommendation of the Airports Commission to expand Heathrow rather than Gatwick airport, which had hoped to build a second runway. The move comes six years after the Conservative-led coalition scrapped previous plans for a third runway at Heathrow.

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Conservation groups dismayed as Japan and other pro-whaling nations vote against plans for a protected area for whales, dolphins and porpoises

Japan and other pro-whaling nations have defeated a proposal to create an sanctuary for whales in the South Atlantic.

The push to create the protected area during a biennial meeting of the International Whaling Commission (IWC) was defeated after 38 countries voted yes and 24 against, as proposals at the conference require 75% of votes to pass. Two abstained.

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Last year renewable energy accounted for more than half of new power generation worldwide, for the first time

Think of China and energy today, and you probably think of coal. But as the chief of the International Energy Agency told me recently, that’s changing. In years to come, wind turbines and vast solar arrays could become the first things that spring to mind.

Last year, for the first time, renewable energy accounted for more than half of new power generation worldwide, as we report today. China is expected to build more than twice that global amount in the next five years, driven by its thirst for more electricity capacity, public anxiety over air pollution and the need to fulfil its climate change pledges.

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IEA says strong policy underpins lift in global outlook for renewable energy, but in Australia, lingering policy uncertainty makes it unsure about large scale investment.