The Guardian

Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species finds itself confronting powerful networks, but has no detectives, police powers or firearms

The illegal trade in wildlife is a most attractive crime. But it is highly destructive, and its scale is threatening the extinction of some of the world’s most iconic species.

It is also grotesquely cruel: poachers slice off the faces of live rhinos to steal their horns; militia groups use helicopters to shoot down elephants for their tusks; factory farmers breed captive tigers to marinate their bones for medicinal wine and fry their flesh for the dinner plate; bears are kept for a lifetime in tiny cages to have their gall bladders regularly drained for liver tonic. But for any criminal who wants maximum money for minimum risk, it is most attractive.

Bach brothers based in Vietnam and Thailand are responsible for smuggling thousands of tonnes of elephant ivory, rhino horn and other endangered species

There is a simple reason why there is always trouble in Nakhon Phanom. It is the reason why the US air force came here during the Vietnam war, and the reason why this dull and dusty town in north-east Thailand now serves as a primary gateway on the global animal trafficking highway. It is all to do with geography.

Nakhon Phanom, population 30,000, sits on the western bank of the Mekong river and is directly opposite the shortest route across Laos, on the other side of the river, and into Vietnam.

Exclusive: Investigation uncovers the ringleaders profiting from $23bn annual trade in illicit animals after more than a decade of undercover surveillance

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A major investigation into global wildlife crime today names for the first time key traffickers and links their illegal trade to corrupt officials at the highest levels of one Asian country.

The investigation, published by the Guardian, exposes the central role of international organised crime groups in mutilating and killing tens of thousands of animals and threatening to eliminate endangered species including tigers, elephants and rhinos.

A new book by Mann and Toles explores climate science and denial with clarity and humor

A new book by Michael Mann and Tom Toles takes a fresh look on the effects humans are having on our climate and the additional impacts on our politics. While there have been countless books about climate change over the past two decades, this one – entitled The Madhouse Effect - distinguishes itself by its clear and straightforward science mixed with clever and sometimes comedic presentation.

In approximately 150 pages, this books deals with the basic science and the denial industry, which has lost the battle in the scientific arena and is working feverishly to confuse the public. The authors also cover potential solutions to halt or slow our changing climate. Perhaps most importantly, this book gives individual guidance – what can we do, as individuals, to help the Earth heal from the real and present harm of climate change?

Curbing flight emissions is essential to meeting the Paris pact, but planes are completely absent from the text, face no legal fuel efficiency requirements or limits on CO2 emissions. But all that is about to change

In the coming weeks, the Paris climate agreement could be about to enter into force. Action to meet the deal’s targets of holding global warming to 2C is most clearly visible in the energy sector - where a low-carbon transition is underway. There is, however, one sector where, until now, action has been invisible owing to its exemption from contributing to the fight to limit carbon pollution: international aviation.

Aviation is one of the top-10 global carbon polluters. The industry emits more CO2 each year than the 129 countries with the lowest annual emissions. Worryingly, those emissions are expected to balloon by 300% if no concerted action is taken sooner rather than later. In 2010, 2.4 billion passengers travelled by plane, but by 2050 that number is expected to rise to 16 billion.
The global agreement reached in Paris last December committed the world’s governments to fighting climate change. Curbing aviation emissions is absolutely essential to fulfilling those commitments. However, aviation was conspicuous by its absence from the text.

From Bogota to Paris to Istanbul, cities around the world have been imposing traffic restrictions to mark World Car-Free Day. Is it a vision of the future?

• Can driverless cars reshape our suburbs?

Despite strong government support, fracking company Cuadrilla says progress on the ground remains slow, as it awaits a decision on two key sites in Lancashire

No shale gas wells will be drilled in Britain this year, the industry has confirmed, as a key fracking decision nears.

Within the next fortnight, the government will decide whether to accept shale company Cuadrilla’s appeal against Lancashire county council’s decision last year to turn down its application for two fracking sites.

Australia stood by while Britain’s military elite trashed tracts of its landscape then left. Menzies had said yes without even consulting his cabinet

It is 27 September 1956. At a dusty site called One Tree, in the northern reaches of the 3,200 sq km Maralinga atomic weapons test range in outback South Australia, the winds have finally died down and the countdown begins.

The site has been on alert for more than two weeks but the weather has constantly interfered with the plans. Finally, Prof Sir William Penney, head of the UK Atomic Weapons Research Establishment, can wait no longer. He gives the final, definitive go-ahead.

Woodwalton Fen, Cambridgeshire Bladderworts and bog myrtle, dragonflies, water fleas and hornets all thrive in the vicinity of a bungalow built for natural historians

A remnant rectangle of wetland, two square kilometres of wildlife that before humans drained the fens was part of a 2,000 square km wet, peaty wilderness. Many species have disappeared, but an exuberance of intertwined life still thrives on this little patch.

Related: In the service of the queen, hornets hunt day and night

African elephant population has contracted by around 111,000 in the past decade as a result of poaching, study finds

The number of African elephants dropped by about 111,000 in the past decade as a result of poaching, a report released at the Johannesburg conference on the wildlife trade has found.

News of the worst drop in elephant numbers in 25 years came amid disagreement on the second day of the global meeting over the best way to improve the plight of the animals, which are targeted for their tusks.

All beaches in northern New South Wales shire closed after man believed to be in his 20s bitten by shark

A male surfer has suffered lacerations to his right thigh after being attacked by a shark at east Ballina’s Lighthouse beach on the New South Wales north coast.

Lifesavers treated the man, believed to be in his 20s, on the scene at 9am on Monday before he was rushed to hospital, a NSW ambulance spokeswoman said.

Bureau of Meteorology predicts ‘rolling cycle of flooding’ near Condobolin and Euabalong as river in Forbes surpasses level reached in 1990s floods

Residents of central western New South Wales should expect “a long flood” over the next few weeks.

The Lachlan river reached 10.65m at Forbes overnight, surpassing the 1990s floods, but the worst was predicted to hit next week.

In the wake of South Australian price rise, the Grattan Institute calls on governments to explain that the transition to renewables is coming, with costs attached

Huge spikes in wholesale electricity prices in South Australia in July show stable, nationally consistent climate policy must urgently replace “unmanageable uncertainty” for energy market investors, according to a new analysis by the Grattan Institute.

When the short-term spot price of electricity spiked to its peak of $14,000 several times on 7 July, some commentators sought to blame the high share of wind power in the state. Energy experts argued the price spikes were a result of an abuse of market power, with a small handful of generators gaming the system.

Climate Institute study also finds 77% of Australians believe climate change is happening, up from 64% four years ago

Public support for Australia to be a world leader in climate change solutions has rebounded to its highest since the major political parties agreed on emissions trading, research shows.

About 65% of the nation want to see Australia lead the world in solutions, an increase from 52% in 2010-12 when the “carbon tax” debate was front and centre in politics.

Originally published in the Manchester Guardian on 30 September, 1916

Surrey, September 28
Apples still ripening in the orchard are frosted over these misty mornings, but the frost is so light that it runs to dew, and big drops are pendant on the fruit, the first rays of the sun glistening and beading them before they drop on now littered leaves. The apples turn a richer colour, red streaked with yellow, on the face which fronts the west and south, and rich green underneath; a few butterflies alight on them, finches and a robin perch on the branches – the robin sings, but does not touch the fruit. When a chattering starling comes as if to perch, the robin makes a dart forward and, apparently, frightens the bigger bird away.

These misty dews covering the leaves and then drying slowly in the faint warmth set the autumn tints everywhere. The limes along the bottom of the wood are all yellow, the beeches are tinted brown, and even when there is a thin cloud over the sun the elm tops are as if a gleam was still slanting along. The oaks are green, and the fallen acorns yellow and hard. The ash is as rich as if August were still here.

Highly unusual behaviour in the upper atmosphere indicates that northern Europe may be in for another nasty winter

What kinds of weather do the coming months hold? Highly unusual behaviour in the upper atmosphere indicates that northern Europe may be in for another stormy winter. The first sign appeared back in February, when scientists spotted something odd in high-level balloon wind measurements.

Way up in the stratosphere – 16-50km above the equator – the balloon measurements revealed a narrow band of westerly winds, tucked inside the freshly formed equatorial easterly winds.

Seafood eco-labels are trustworthy – up to a point

My favourite sideswipe at those who question the ethical provenance of all they consume is provided by the TV series Portlandia. Super-earnest couple Nance and Peter demand the life story of the chicken on a restaurant menu. Eventually they head for the farm to find out for themselves.

I’m more laidback about fish, because I trust seafood eco-labels. Policing some 3m vessels across the globe is not easy but we have some accountability, including GlobalGAP, the label for certified aquaculture, and the blue tick (awarded by the Marine Stewardship Council to 281 sustainable fisheries across the world).

The number of African greys has plunged to 1% of past levels, conservationists warn. But it is just one of a host of animals and plants on the continent whose future will be debated by more than 180 nations in Johannesburg this week

Perry, a five-year-old African grey parrot, is for sale on a well-known pet trade website for £750. She looks in good condition with her large black bill, red tail and white mask and her owner says she can whistle the tune of Flower of Scotland, does a passable imitation of R2D2 and is “very clever and funny”.

What Perry’s Scottish owner does not tell prospective buyers is that the African grey is close to extinction in the wild largely because of the international pet trade.

When travelling in New Zealand, Matt Lindley, a London-based marketeer, started thinking about the flightless moa bird, which was endemic there until it became extinct around 1300AD. This gave him the idea for the series Unknown Tourism, which commemorates lost wildlife with vintage-style posters inspired by 30s to 50s air travel ads. The project, commissioned by the travel site Expedia UK and illustrated by Jon Barmby, includes the dodo as well as bringing to light the unfamiliar galliwasp. “Hopefully these posters are a fun, visual way to convey that information to a lot of people,” says Lindley. “We felt many of these animals weren’t getting the attention they deserved, so this was a way of paying tribute to them.”

A new study by scientists in Maine found that if global warming trends continue, lobsters will struggle to survive by the year 2100

Baby lobsters might not be able to survive in the ocean’s waters if the ocean continues to warm at the expected rate.

That is the key finding of a study performed by scientists in Maine, the state most closely associated with lobster. The scientists, who are affiliated with the University of Maine Darling Marine Center and Bigelow Laboratory for Ocean Sciences, said the discovery could mean bad news for the future of one of America’s most beloved seafood treats, as well as the industry lobsters support.