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French president Francois Hollande says that the US must respect their commitments made under the Paris Climate Agreement.

My friend Alan Boatman, who has died suddenly in his sleep aged 46, ran his own environmental consultancy, Geo-Sys, in Laos, working on projects identifying and mitigating the impact of resource exploitation in this remarkable area of south-east Asia. Recognising the depth of his experience, the United Nations Drug Control Programme hired Alan to conduct opium surveys in Afghanistan and Laos. At one stage this led to an uncomfortable disagreement with the authorities, as his figures from the field research differed from theirs, but Alan was unmoved and held his ground.

Alan developed a sense of adventure from an early age. He was born in Gibraltar, son of Ian, who worked on overseas projects for Cable & Wireless, and Carolyn, a poet, and was brought up in the Gambia and St Lucia, with two sisters, Kelly and Dale. Alan went to school in Essex, at Holmwood House and Felsted school. He then did a variety of jobs, including working in insurance, in a ski resort in France, as a deckhand on a private yacht and helping to open a night club in Antigua.

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Mathematicians are a step closer to understanding what makes a perfect cup of coffee.

German researchers compile a 400-species Citree database to encourage people to plant the "right tree for the right place" in urban areas.

Nottinghamshire council approves iGas planning application to drill two wells at Misson, the third UK site to be approved for exploration this year

An energy company has been given the green light to explore for shale gas in the East Midlands, the first step towards the site being potentially fracked in the future.

Nottinghamshire council approved iGas’s planning application to vertically and horizontally drill two wells at Misson in north Nottinghamshire, by a vote of seven to four.

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‘Grave consequences’ for food supply with wheat production halved since the start of the war and the area of fields planted at an all-time low

Food production in Syria is edging nearer to collapse with wheat production having halved since the start of the war and the area of fields planted now at an all-time low, according to the UN.

The World Food Programme and Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) warned of grave consequences for the availability of food in the warn-torn region unless immediate assistance is provided to farmers. Lack of food could add to the 11 million Syrians already displaced by five years of conflict, they said.

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The world’s temperature is running at 1.2C above pre-industrial levels after another year of record-breaking heat affecting people around the world

Latest figures from the UN’s World Meterological Organization (WMO) released on Monday showed that 2016 would very likely become the hottest year on record. This is a new high for the third year running, and means that 16 of the 17 hottest years on record have been this century.

This year saw searing heatwaves from South Africa to India, Arctic ice reach its equal second-lowest extent and coral mortality of up to 50% in parts of Australia’s Great Barrier Reef.

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UN’s Ban Ki-moon expresses hopes that the US president-elect will drop plans to quit a global accord aimed at weaning the world off fossil fuels

The UN secretary-general, Ban Ki-moon, said on Tuesday that action on climate change has become “unstoppable“, and he expressed hopes that US president-elect, Donald Trump, would drop plans to quit a global accord aimed at weaning the world off fossil fuels.

At a meeting of almost 200 nations in Morocco to work out ways to implement the 2015 Paris agreement to limit greenhouse gas emissions, Ban said US companies, states and cities were all pushing to limit global warming.

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An extinct bird that lived 120 million years ago had iridescent feathers, probably to attract a mate, fossil evidence shows.

With the potential to curb urban congestion, could a successful trial scheme in Morocco act as a launchpad for borrowing bikes across the whole continent?

Moroccans claim you can identify someone as a true Marrakech local if they own a bicycle. The streets of this north African city were once full of ardent cyclists, but in recent decades they’ve been overtaken by scooters and cars that swarm the city’s congested roads.

Now, French bike company Smoove, is trying to revive Marrakech’s biking culture — and boost sustainable transport — by launching Africa’s first fully functioning bike share scheme in the city. The launch coincided with the start of the COP22 climate conference in the city.

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Photographer Richard Jones’s Energy+Notion project tells the story of energy in Wales, from the remnants of coal mining that shaped its towns and landscapes to the new windfarms springing up where the mines once stood. The project was conceived in collaboration with the Arts Council of Wales.

• These photos feature as part of a touring digital installation and photo exhibition. The next venue is Blackwood Miners’ Institute, November 24 and 25

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The Australian Heritage Council is assessing the Governors’ Domain and Civic Precinct for potential inclusion on the National Heritage List. Comments close 24 February 2017.

Edwinstowe, Nottinghamshire Perhaps it is a human-sized story – that after 400,000 days on Earth, the Major Oak is still full of life

Although British place names make frequent reference to different tree species, there can be few road signs giving directions to a single specimen. Nor can there be many English woods more steeped in story than Sherwood Forest.

I found a few incidental tales even as I walked up to the Major oak. There were fairy bonnet mushrooms painting their way across a dead stump like Lowry crowds through Salford. There were some last wasps around a waste bin, and wood pigeons so glutted on acorns their crops bulged. A robin laced its sad song among the birches, but sadder still was a bench with the following inscribed across its seat: “Abby Louise Hucknall – Missed So Much.” An emotional counterpoint came amid much open-armed laughter from the children playing along a Halloween-themed trail.

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15 November 1927: A central authority to control inland waters must be a priority for the government

The appointment by the Minister of Health and the Minister of Agriculture and Fisheries of a representative Joint Advisory Committee under the chairmanship of Sir Horace Monro “to consider and from time to time report” upon the pollution of rivers and streams and suggest appropriate legislative or administrative measures to reduce what is admittedly a growing evil is welcome, though tardy, news.

Such administrative bodies as the Mersey and Irwell Joint Committee, the West Riding of Yorkshire Rivers Board, the Ribble Joint Committee, the Thames Conservancy Board, and other similar bodies have long been doing excellent work. But the problem is a national one. A strong deputation, representing numerous interests, recently urged upon the Government the immediate need for “a central authority to control inland waters.” It was able to support this demand by quotations from Royal Commissions, Select Committees, Departmental Committees, and scientific authorities for a period of more than half a century.

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The latest Reef Trust Phase IV grant round is now open. It targets sediment losses from gullies and stream banks in priority Reef catchments. Applications close 15 December 2016.

French consumers and industrial groups warned to expect rolling blackouts and soaring power prices as one-third of nuclear fleet closed due to safety issues.

AGL Energy says it's likely nearly one-third of Australian households will have rooftop solar by 2025, and will want battery storage too.

ABC News still saying renewables "largely blamed" for South Australia blackout, ignores BoM report on cyclonic winds, stands by Uhlmann reports.

Unitywater is developing a waste-to-energy feasibility study that could revolutionise the way we think about sewage.

Victoria regulator says network value of solar so small it is not worth adding to solar feed in tariff. It says battery storage could add significant value to rooftop solar, in some areas, but will need market reforms to deliver that value to households. In New York, meanwhile ...