The Guardian

• Not legally binding but may stem trade and poaching
• Nearly one third of Africa’s savannah elephants killed between 2007 and 2014
  
• Ban negotiations spurred feud

Nations and environment groups have agreed to shut down the domestic ivory trade, despite the resolution nearly being derailed by objections from countries including Japan and South Africa.

Related: Push for ban on domestic ivory trade spurs feud at international summit

Replace food items you buy with greener ones. What could be simpler?

The eco swap is the most bite-sized of all sustainable lifestyle actions. You simply replace items in your diet with those that have less impact, in terms of CO2 emissions, land use and change of land use – normally deforestation, and, critically, lower water consumption.

The Soil Association recommends carefully pinpointed swaps this month (it’s national awareness month for organic produce this September). If 24 million households that buy yogurt swapped to organic (even just once), almost 2,000 more cows would be free to range on clover-rich organic pastures. (Its standards do not allow cattle to be reared full time in giant sheds). And if every carrot buyer switched to organic, that would result in 50% more wildlife and 30% more species of wildlife on pesticide-free farms.

Apple trees are laden, vines are healthy, and in Norfolk the harvest is in. But with bees still in shocking decline, all is not rosy

On a balmy evening last week in north Wales, the bats were flitting about, the blackberries were as large as grapes, the little winberries on the Berwyn hills were as sweet as sugar and the rowan trees were bowed down with berries. It was nearly as warm at 9pm in Chirk as it was in Lagos.

Welcome to early autumn 2016. After a very wet and notably mild winter, a soggy spring and a warmer-than-average summer, much of Britain has been basking in tropical-style humidity and temperatures.

As coalition of countries, including the US, push for resolution to end ivory trade, Japan, Namibia, South Africa and Canada raise concerns at Hawaii meeting

A resolution to end the domestic trade in ivory has descended into acrimony at a major conservation summit, with a handful of countries, including Japan and South Africa, objecting to the proposed ban.

A coalition of countries, including the US, France, Gabon, Kenya and Malawi, spoke in favor of an International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN) motion that calls for every country to ban their internal trade of ivory.

The ongoing violence in Syria, the Rio Paralympics, wildfires in Spain, the US Open tennis in New York – the best photography in news, culture and sport from around the world this week

South Uist Before me is a curve of white sand and a lazy sea of glorious Hebridean blue, breaking with a gentle whisper on to the shore

It’s the best kind of late summer day, with bright sunshine and a temperature as high as anything we’ve had this year. The smell of new-mown grass carries on the warm breeze and from a few fields away comes the muted drone of a tractor. Emerging from under the bridge the river curves sinuously as it crosses the sand on the final stage of its journey to the sea. But unlike it, rather than heading for the beach I take the path behind the low dunes. It is edged by a riot of plants, some still in flower.

The violet-blue flowers of common vetch stand out from the luxuriant tangle of its intertwining leaves, while clumps of purple thistle-like hardheads rise above them. The remains of umbelliferous hogweed, dried ochre seed-heads atop brittle, ridged stems, make sculptural statements amid the foliage. Scattered liberally throughout are the cheerful yellows of the autumn hawkbit.

Findings suggest that the cephalopods – which have the most complex brains of any invertebrate – also prefer quality over quantity when it comes to food

New research suggests cuttlefish can not only count better than a one-year-old human, but they also prefer quality over quantity when it comes to food.

A study of 54 one-month-old cuttlefish hatched in captivity was carried out by Tsang-I Yang and Chuan-Chin Chiao, researchers at the National Tsing Hua University in Taiwan.

Cabinet Office paper, revealed accidentally, suggests collective responsibility may be waived by Theresa May

A leaked Whitehall document suggests Theresa May could hold a free vote on expanding airport capacity, potentially allowing some cabinet ministers to oppose a third runway at Heathrow.

The Cabinet Office paper, photographed on the tube and passed to Channel 4 News, examines the possibility of waiving collective responsibility for any vote on the highly controversial issue of expanding an airport in south-east England.

Britain’s only caviar farmer plans to expand with a second site in rural East Sussex but locals say the site will impact the landscape and put pressure on a river where sea trout spawn

Plans by Britain’s only caviar farmer to expand his operations to a tiny rural community in East Sussex have sparked a backlash from locals concerned over its environmental impact.

Ken Benning opened the country’s first caviar farm in Devon two years ago and supplies Michelin-starred restaurants in Britain, but his planning application for a further sturgeon farm at East Chiltington has been greeted with a wave of opposition.

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

An angry-faced caterpillar, lion’s mane jellyfish and a new species of giraffe are among this week’s pick of images from the natural world

Fishermen catch 20 of the mammals on the first day of the controversial six-month hunting season featured in anti-dolphin killing film The Cove

Japanese fishermen on Friday killed the first dolphins of the season in a controversial annual hunt that attracted global attention after it was featured in the Oscar-winning 2009 documentary The Cove.

Fishermen at the western town of Taiji caught 20 dolphins, according to the local Kii Mimpo newspaper.

Thousands of residents in China’s Shanxi province have been evacuated as villages next to mines have started sinking, after decades of reckless coal mining

Application for a mine in Northumberland will now be subject to a planning enquiry to determine if it is compatible with government climate change policy

An application for an opencast coal mine in Northumberland has been “called in” by the Government on climate grounds.

The proposals by Banks Mining for a surface mine for coal, sandstone and fire clay at Highthorn, between Widdrington Village and Druridge Bay, were given the green light by Northumberland county council in July.

A UK cross-party initiative addresses the appetite and mechanics for the cooperation needed to help us live within Earth’s limits

China and the US’s announcement that they will join the Paris climate accord comes at a time when the UK’s own climate and energy policies appear at best in disarray, and worst at odds.

Effects of habitat loss and climate change mean the future of the tiny native mammal is uncertain

Numbers of Britain’s native dormouse have declined by more than a third since 2000, according to the first definitive report on the state of the species.

The tiny, golden-brown animals were once widespread throughout England and Wales, but have become one of Britain’s most threatened mammals due to loss and fragmentation of their woodland habitat, changes in land management and a warmer climate.

Langstone Harbour, Hampshire For the osprey the fish-rich waters are a welcome place to rest before continuing the 3,000-mile trip to the wintering grounds in Africa

As summer fades into autumn the harbour begins to feel like a departure lounge. Migration is in full swing, with birds flying in to wait for a window in the weather before they risk crossing the Channel.

Related: Britain's migrating birds are drastically declining, RSPB says

Urgent action is needed if UK is to meet its targets, particularly for heating and transport

The UK will fail to meet its targets on renewable energy generation, with take-up of clean fuels for heating and transport falling badly behind aims, MPs have warned.

The findings of the influential energy and climate change committee (ECC) show that ministers have little clear plan for meeting the 2020 target to meet 15% of energy needs from renewable sources.

Bob Lamb’s letter (8 September) reminds me that my Auntie Jean, who lived in Allerton, recounted the arrival of unexpected guests at her door one day in the early 1960s. It was her cousin, Bill Shankly, with his friend, Matt Busby. “We need somewhere to talk,” said Bill. “Walls have ears at Anfield, you know.”
Karen Lewton
Newcastle upon Tyne

• How sad to read that the University of East Anglia is preparing to sacrifice its green space for car parking (Report, 8 September). At the University of Sheffield, where I work, we are banishing motor cars from the central campus and working with the city to create wildflower refuges, like the “Grey to Green” scheme in the legal district.
Simon Geller
Sheffield

Residents in Mytholmroyd, West Yorkshire, didn’t need to be asked twice when the Environment Agency offered to buy their flood-ravaged houses

Eight-and-a-half months after the river Calder invaded his terrace with such force that the neighbouring travel agency collapsed into the water, Tony Kay was finally able to clear out the house on Thursday. “Good riddance,” he said, as he lugged bits of kitchen into the boot of his car on Burnley Road in Mytholmroyd, West Yorkshire.

He couldn’t wait to give the keys to an Environment Agency official and be shot of the place, one of 238 homes, 48 businesses and one school in the Calder Valley still uninhabitable after the Boxing Day floods. The Agency offered to buy the doomed property and Kay didn’t need asking twice.