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With the country poised for Sunday’s elections, the murder of environmentalists in Honduras is being directly linked with water and food shortages, violence and migration. Photographer Sean Hawkey visited what has become a frontline of climate change conflict

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Cavenham Heath, Suffolk The woodland reveals beetles both common and rare, and a surprising pile of ladybird wings

Blue sky, still air and the winter sun have lifted the heavy overnight frost. Cavenham Heath contains one of the largest blocks of heathland and acid grassland in the south-west Breckland, but the path from the car park starts in a predominantly birch woodland. Tearing a weathered birch polypore (Fomitopsis betulina) from a standing trunk, I fumble through its white flesh. It is shot through with burrows and in places under the pale leathery skin it is dry and powdery, while elsewhere the fungus retains a tough marshmallow consistency.

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When the NEG was nebulous, its boosters were able to promise all things to all people. Now, with slightly more detail out, it will be a really hard sell.

World's biggest battery charges up for first time as testing begins ahead of its formal commissioning next week.

COAG agrees to commission more design work on the Turnbull government's proposed National Energy Guarantee, forcing the renewable energy industries in Australia into yet another period of policy uncertainty.

As Queensland prepares to vote in the state election on Saturday, we look at what's at stake for the renewables industry – particularly if Labor loses.

Northern Territory government expected to unveil roadmap for 50 per cent renewable energy target next week.

Reconstruction progress in Nepal has been painfully slow. Building code compliance and better urban planning are a must – but inequitable access to resources undermines recovery. Jason von Meding, Senior Lecturer in Disaster Risk Reduction, University of Newcastle Hari Darshan Shrestha, Associate professor Disaster Management and structural Engineering Humayun Kabir, Professor, DRR expert, University of Dhaka Iftekhar Ahmed, Senior Lecturer, University of Newcastle Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.

Native vegetation was home to several threatened species and was in a Great Barrier Reef catchment

Queensland farmers are suspected of having defied rare federal government intervention and cleared a large swath of land without commonwealth approval, according to conservationists.

The native vegetation was in a reef catchment, meaning the clearing could worsen pollution on the Great Barrier Reef. Government-commissioned studies show it provided habitat to several threatened species.

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Drone footage shows the aftermath of allegedly unlawful clearing, about 70km south-west of Cairns. The area is thought to be habitat for several threatened species, and is in a reef catchment, meaning the clearing could worsen water quality on the embattled Great Barrier Reef.

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This is the first event where electric vehicles demonstrated that the drive from Devonport to Cradle Mountain, a popular tourist destination, is entirely possible using standard production EVs currently available in Australia.

Energy Networks Australia is pleased to announce Mr Andrew Dillon’s appointment as its new Chief Executive Officer.

Australian Renewable Energy Agency tips another $20m into feasibility and business case for second interconnector across Bass Strait.

Scientists call the new timelapse video the "most complete global picture of life on Earth to date".

Patients became less distressed and heard voices less often compared with those who had counselling.

The NEG is yet another case of Australian exceptionalism in energy, typical of the toxic mix of muddled thinking and ideology that dominates regulatory oversight of this industry.

Adelaide Oval has unveiled a world class audience experience created through a CEFC-financed major lighting upgrade that goes all out to put substantial runs on the energy efficiency scoreboard.

As federal and state energy ministers gather to discuss the Turnbull government's proposed National Energy Guarantee, many of the finer details of the modelling are not yet available. David Blowers, Energy Fellow, Grattan Institute Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.

A population of finches on the Galapagos is discovered in the process of becoming a new species.

Rosemary Mason notices a decline in insects in south Wales; Kate Phillips says there is a major shift in insect and bird life in Buckinghamshire; and Eyke Shannon questions the role played by the Forestry Commission and the RSPB in Suffolk

With regard to David Marjot’s letter about lost insects in Surrey (18 November), we too have noticed a sharp decline in insects over the last 10 years in south Wales, but there are no neonicotinoids used in the area. In fact, as he noted in Surrey, spiders were the first to disappear. However, Dakar Pro, a commercial preparation of RoundUp, is sprayed on city pavements to eradicate weeds. Have any other readers had similar experiences?
Rosemary Mason
Swansea

• I am in need of an answer. We have had the best crop of apples from our (very) old Cox’s Pomona tree in the nearly 50 years we have been here – reason, no insect damage. We have seen almost no wasps: every year we have at least one nest in the loft, garden store, ground, but not this year. We have practically no small birds coming to the bird table – the food I put out goes to the pigeons, the one robin and a few passing tits – where are they all? There have been few hoverflies, few houseflies and no bluebottles. Is it the pesticides, sprayed over the nearby agricultural land, is it the plethora of red kites happily soaring above, or the hornets seen for the first time a couple of years ago?

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