The Guardian

The best of this week’s wildlife photographs, including a damselfly, turtle hatchling and beached manta rays

Exclusive: rare purple organism preys on trapdoor spider in behaviour reminiscent of its ‘zombie’ relatives that feature in apocalyptic TV show The Last of Us

Scientists believe they have discovered a new parasitic fungus which preys on trapdoor spiders in Brazil’s Atlantic rainforest.

The rare organism, which is purple, belongs to a group of fungi that infect invertebrates and take over the host. A closeup image shows the fungus wrapped around the body of a trapdoor spider, poking out of the burrow from which the arachnid grabs insects.

Curtailing the inefficient use of gas to heat our homes will help bridge the supply issue expected in 2027

According to the Australian Energy Market Operator (Aemo), Victoria, New South Wales, South Australia and Tasmania are likely to be facing shortages of gas by 2027. Furthermore, shortages are possible as soon as this winter if we experience a severe and widespread cold snap across those states.

We shouldn’t be here, but we have a path out of this problem.

Landmark report urges overhaul of wasteful water practices around world on eve of crucial UN summit

The world is facing an imminent water crisis, with demand expected to outstrip the supply of fresh water by 40% by the end of this decade, experts have said on the eve of a crucial UN water summit.

Governments must urgently stop subsidising the extraction and overuse of water through misdirected agricultural subsidies, and industries from mining to manufacturing must be made to overhaul their wasteful practices, according to a landmark report on the economics of water.

Destruction of more than 100 trees in Plymouth highlights weakness of protections, says Woodland Trust

Veteran trees should have the same protections as heritage buildings to stop destruction on the scale carried out in Plymouth this week, campaigners have said.

The Woodland Trust is calling for an English Heritage-style body to enforce greater protection for trees – including those which have value to the attractiveness of a town or city.

It seems like every single Kiwi has some kind of bird madness, and I know now that I am infected (and loving it)

This week, during a visit to the Wellington zoo, I had a realisation about myself. No, it’s not that I wish to strip off all my clothes and live out my days swinging nude from the trees like a spider monkey, although that does sound great. It’s that after spending time on and off in Aotearoa the last couple of years (due to lesbian love), I have now fully become entrenched in the New Zealand mindset.

Walking around the zoo lesbianly, we checked out the extremely cute otters, met the adorable lemurs, raised our eyebrows at the capuchins (not because we were surprised to see them at a zoo, it’s a sign of friendliness) and encountered all sorts of beautiful creatures. But as it turns out, the animal I was personally most excited to see, the one that made me gasp out loud upon entering its habitat? The one I made sure to return to before leaving?

Government accused of hypocrisy for pushing global target but not following Natural England’s advice at home

The UK government ignored scientific warnings from Natural England that its nature restoration target was inadequate and would not meet its commitments, new documents show, undermining efforts to protect threatened species.

In December the environment secretary, Thérèse Coffey, unveiled targets at the biodiversity Cop15 in Canada to reverse the decline of nature in England. They included plans to improve the quality of marine protected areas, reduce pollution and nitrogen runoff in the river system, and restore more than half a million hectares of wildlife-rich habitat outside protected areas by 2042.

It took decades to force banks to abandon racist redlining. We don’t have decades to avert catastrophic climate crisis

The collapse of Silicon Valley Bank will bring many forms of fallout. One of the most obvious consequences is that the biggest banks – Chase, Citi, Wells Fargo, Bank of America – will probably get even bigger. That is why we’re joining protests across the United States outside hundreds of those banks’ branches on Tuesday, 21 March: if they’re going to hold that much power over the planet’s economy, we need them to recognize and help with our great crises. We need them not to do what they did last century, which is to ignore or exacerbate our deepest troubles.

Beginning in the 1930s, the federal government mapped America, grading neighborhoods to decide which ones were worthy of investment, literally drawing red lines on maps to make it crystal clear. Many mainly Black and Brown neighborhoods ended up with low grades, and most US banks made sure money didn’t flow in their direction. Nearly a century later, these neighborhoods still suffer. Lacking trees and parks, they are degrees warmer than nearby leafy communities. Their residents are condemned to a myriad of health issues, from asthma to kidney stones.

Ben Jealous is the executive director of the Sierra Club, the former executive director of the NAACP, and the author of Our People Have Always Been Free

Bill McKibben is the founder of Third Act, which organizes Americans over the age of 60 for action on climate and democracy

Vast numbers of people drinking water with levels that would be banned in the US, research shows

Pressure is building on UK ministers to tighten regulations on PFAS “forever chemicals” as research shows vast numbers of people are drinking water with levels that would be banned in the US.

On Tuesday, US president Joe Biden announced plans to drive down acceptable limits in drinking water to four nanograms per litre (4ng/l) for two types of per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFOS and PFOA), and announced proposals to regulate four more – PFNA, PFHxS, PFBS and GenX Chemicals – as a mixture.

Exclusive: Drastically weakened rules on how vessels document their catches of endangered species could endanger the marine ecosystem, confidential EU papers reveal

A push by EU fishing nations including France and Spain to weaken how fish catches are reported could see massive overfishing of endangered species and even “call into question” the whole point of setting quotas, according to confidential EU documents seen by the Guardian.

Europe’s most commonly fished species – which include mackerel, tuna, Atlantic herring and sprat – could be threatened under the latest proposal, which would apply to all vessels in EU waters.

The Danish commentator has been accused of continuing to misrepresent findings about the costs of cutting emissions, despite pleas from scientists

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If you like your YouTube content to have plenty of references to global elites, industrial complexes, “freedom” and the conservative conspiracy theory of a “Great Reset”, then the British comedian and actor Russell Brand’s channel might be for you.

Brand has more than 6 million subscribers on YouTube and this week his channel turned to the Danish political scientist, Bjørn Lomborg, for a “debate” (not really a debate) on climate change.

Chancellor silent on home insulation, oil and gas windfall tax, and onshore windfarms – but freezes fuel duty

• Budget 2023 live: reaction to Jeremy Hunt’s statement
• Budget 2023: key points at a glance

The government’s latest budget will do little to meet the UK’s net zero carbon goals, missed opportunities to create a green economy, and would saddle households with high energy bills driven by fossil fuel prices, green campaigners and experts have said.

Jeremy Hunt, chancellor of the exchequer, was a self-styled “green Tory” as a backbencher, and in his speech gave a nod towards the UK’s green ambitions with a boost for nuclear power and for carbon capture and storage (CCS) technology.

Up to 1.2m butts to be diverted from landfill to a laboratory where scientists will work to transform the byproduct into a polystyrene replacement

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Up to 1.2m cigarette butts could be consumed by oyster mushrooms that break down toxins and microplastics as part of a trial funded by the Victorian government.

Up to 9bn plastic cigarette butts are discarded in Australia each year, according to the World Wide Fund for Nature, seeping harmful microplastics and chemicals such as arsenic into waterways and soil.

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A project with outdoor gear company Patagonia and NGOs will protect the Vjosa, one of the continent’s last free-flowing waterways

One of the last wild rivers in Europe, home to more than 1,000 animal and plant species, has been declared a national park by the Albanian government, making the Vjosa the first of its kind on the continent.

The Vjosa River flows 168 miles (270kms) from the Pindus mountains in Greece through narrow canyons, plains and forests in Albania to the Adriatic coast. Free from dams or other artificial barriers, it is rich in aquatic species and supports myriad wildlife, including otters, the endangered Egyptian vulture and the critically endangered Balkan lynx, of which only 15 are estimated to remain in Albania.

Scores of trees destroyed in a few hours on Tuesday night despite petition to save them signed by 16,000 people

More than 100 mature trees have been cut down in the centre of Plymouth in a move campaigners said was reminiscent of the needless felling of thousands of trees in Sheffield.

Despite widespread opposition from local people, the Conservative council in the Devon city cordoned off the trees with metal fencing, sent in security guards and destroyed more than 100 using chainsaws in a few hours. The move came within days of a highly critical report on the needless destruction of trees by Sheffield city council – known as the “chainsaw massacre”. An inquiry report found the council was guilty of “a serious and sustained failure of strategic leadership”.

Gujarat accused of being possessive after conservationists pleaded for more of the endangered lions to be moved to other areas

Lion conservation efforts in the Indian state of Gujarat have been so successful that a new sanctuary will be opened to house the abundant numbers of big cats.

Gir national park is home to the world’s only Asiatic lion population and the only place outside Africa where a lion can be seen in its natural habitat.

All they wanted was a woke endangered animal safe space but Rambo ruined everything

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Experts liken act known as ‘ICEing’ to parking at a fuel bowser, and say high penalties are necessary to encourage EV uptake

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Drivers could be fined as much as $3,200 for parking in spaces for electric vehicles as part of little-known penalties introduced in four states and territories.

The fines, some of them added to road rules late last year, range from $3,200 in the Australian Capital Territory to $369 in Victoria.

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Possums on Maria Island expanded beyond usual habitat and had become ‘pretty significant predator’

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The introduction of Tasmanian devils to Maria Island halved the population of brushtail possums, according to new research that suggests restoring top predators to ecosystems could help limit the number of overabundant prey.

In 2012, the carnivorous marsupials were introduced to the island off the east coast of Tasmania to create a geographically isolated insurance population free from devil facial tumour disease.

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Study shows high ozone levels make males emit fewer pheromones to attract females, which may lead to population decline

Air pollution is making it harder for fruit flies to mate because females cannot easily recognise a male’s scent, a study has found.

Female fruit flies select their mates for reproduction through the scent of their pheromones, but ozone pollution can disrupt the male’s ability to emit their characteristic odour, researchers have found. This means contaminated air can pose a threat to how successfully fruit flies and other insects reproduce, and could lead to population decline.