The Guardian

Emlyn Rees fined £1,600 as judge says he is unable to imprison him for seven-year operation that ‘significantly’ impacted fish stocks

The ringleader of a fish-poaching operation that caused “staggering damage” to salmon and sea trout populations in a Welsh river has avoided prison after a judge expressed regret that he did not have the power to give him a custodial sentence.

Bricklayer Emlyn Rees, 35, from the village of Cenarth in Carmarthenshire, headed an operation that caught 989 sea trout and 302 salmon over seven years.

Court of appeal judgment allows £5bn lawsuit against mining giant BHP by more than 200,000 victims of 2015 Mariana dam disaster

More than 200,000 victims of Brazil’s worst environmental disaster will have their case heard in a UK court, making it the largest group claim in English legal history.

The lawsuit is against the Anglo-Australian mining company BHP – one of the biggest companies in the world – for their involvement in the collapse of the Mariana dam in 2015, which released toxic mining waste down 400 miles (640km) of waterways along the Doce River. Claimants are seeking at least £5bn ($6bn) in compensation.

Sustainability is key to survival of billions of people, says UN study, which notes income from wild species incentivises conservation

• Patrick Vallance: ‘We need to change if we’re to survive’

Wild plants, animals, fungi and algae support half of the world’s population but their future use is threatened by overexploitation, according to a new assessment by leading scientists.

From the 10,000 known wild species that humans harvest for food to the firewood that one in three people need for cooking, nature is key to the livelihoods and survival of billions of people in developed and developing countries, says a new UN report.

The best of this week’s wildlife pictures, including baby lemurs, a fulmar and a sulphur-crested cockatoo

Conservation manager Jake Fiennes says Norfolk’s Holkham estate shows how fragile ecosystems can support huge visitor numbers

The government should factor in access to nature in its new payments strategy for farmers and other landowners in England, a leading land manager has said.

Jake Fiennes, who sits on the board for Natural England’s national nature reserves, has advised the government to incentivise farmers to put better paths in place and educate the public about what they grow, and what nature lives on their land.

Large tortoiseshells breeding at Knepp, Sussex, after being officially extinct in Britain for half a century

An elusive butterfly that has been officially extinct in Britain for more than half a century has been discovered breeding on the rewilded estate of Knepp in West Sussex.

The large tortoiseshell mysteriously vanished more than 50 years ago but this week male and female butterflies – much larger than the small tortoiseshell and without its white patterning – have been spotted at Knepp for the first time.

Dramatic aerial images of how flooding has transformed the area after torrential rainfall over recent weeks

Contract price is nearly 6% lower than previous auction in 2019, which could ease pressure on energy bills

The price of offshore wind power in the UK has fallen to an all-time low, which could ease the pressure on future household energy bills.

Following the biggest ever UK renewables auction, the government said on Thursday the contract price for windfarms was nearly 6% lower than the previous auction, despite the rising cost of materials to build windfarms.

Scientists call for limits on mining as study finds noise pollution could travel for hundreds of miles and from surface to sea bed

Noise pollution from proposed deep-sea mining could radiate through the ocean for hundreds of kilometres, scientists predict, creating a “cylinder of sound” from the surface to the sea bed.

An analysis by scientists from Oceans Initiative in the US, the National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology (AIST) in Japan, Curtin University in Australia and the University of Hawaii, published in the journal Science, has found that noise from one mine alone could travel 500km (more than 300 miles) in gentle weather conditions.

Whither the larrikin?!! Where is that iconic laconic fellow with cheeky disdain for authority?

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Particles found in supermarket products and on Dutch farms, but human health impacts unknown

Microplastic contamination has been reported in beef and pork for the first time, as well as in the blood of cows and pigs on farms.

Scientists at the Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam (VUA) in the Netherlands found the particles in three-quarters of meat and milk products tested and every blood sample in their pilot study.

Scientists say numbers of world’s second-largest animal have slowly improved since 1970s whaling ban but sightings in Antarctic feeding grounds are rare

For the first time since whaling was banned, up to 150 southern fin whales have been filmed feeding together in a “thrilling” Antarctic spectacle, hailed by scientists as a sign of hope for the world’s second-biggest animal.

The ocean giants are second only to blue whales in length, with slender bodies that help them glide through the water at high speed.

Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has exacerbated a desperate situation. Famine is not inevitable – but action must be swift

Hunger is stalking the world. Seven years ago, the United Nations vowed to eradicate it by 2030. Yet the number of people affected globally reached 828 million last year, and an unprecedented number – 345 million – are currently experiencing acute food insecurity, the UN has warned.

Covid-19 and the climate emergency had seen that tally rise from 135 million people before the pandemic to 276 million by early this year, reflecting a 55% increase in the Food and Agriculture Organization’s food price index since May 2020. “We thought it couldn’t get any worse,” said David Beasley, head of the World Food Programme.

Regional residents at risk of being ‘last people in the world’ driving petrol cars due to misconception electric vehicle batteries lack range, study suggests

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People living in regional areas are at risk of becoming the “last people in the world” left driving petrol cars because incentives for electric vehicles have been targeted towards city drivers.

Most EVs on the market are likely to have the battery range needed for those living long distances from urban centres, however Australian policy is currently geared only towards encouraging uptake among citydwellers, new research from the Australian National University has found.

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Industry calls for roles to be added to job shortage list as eight in 10 report serious problems finding qualified workers

Dairy farmers are warning that a chronic shortage of workers is hitting milk production and further fuelling food price inflation, and are calling for urgent action to stop the situation getting worse.

Eight in 10 farm owners looking for workers said they had received very few or zero applications from people with the right experience or qualifications, in response to a survey by Arla Foods, the UK’s largest dairy co-operative.

Alan Lovell says he sees no conflict of interest in Environment Agency role and having shares in Progressive Energy

The prospective new chair of the Environment Agency is refusing to divest his shareholding in a hydrogen and carbon capture company chosen for a major government project.

Alan Lovell stood down as a director of Progressive Energy last month, according to Companies House records, two days after being announced as the preferred candidate for the role running England’s environmental watchdog.

A range of factors is behind the rise in electricity prices, but net zero isn’t one of them

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Energy markets and electricity systems are complicated beasts at the best of times, but throw in war, extreme weather, policy dysfunction and a pandemic and the picture gets even murkier.

However, some of Australia’s conservative commentators seem to think there is one thing to blame for the country’s rising electricity prices and the threat of power outages: it’s all the fault of “net zero”.

Hives along state’s central and mid-north coasts and in north-west destroyed as bee lockdown continues

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More than 15 million bees have been euthanised across 31 infected premises in New South Wales as the fight to contain the varroa mite continues.

Bees from 1,533 hives have been destroyed between the NSW central and mid-north coasts, as well as at Narrabri in the state’s north-west, the state’s agriculture minister, Dugald Saunders, said. “It’s a significant number of bees,” he said.

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University of Cambridge researchers find amphibians dwelling as high as 3 metres above ground

Scientists hunting for dormice have been surprised to find toads sleeping in their nest boxes, high up in the trees.

A study has for the first time revealed the frequency with which the common toad nests and breeds in the trees.

A 2013 storm toppled the tree that had stood in the Ceiriog valley for 1,200 years – but now it lives on

On a stormy night in April 2013, a resounding crack echoed around a valley in north-east Wales and when day broke a melancholy sight met the eyes of villagers.

The mighty Pontfadog oak, a glorious tree that had stood sentinel over the Ceiriog valley for 1,200 years, had been toppled, and a heap of broken branches, decayed wood, lichens and fungi lying among the spring flowers.