The Guardian

Highly virulent variants of avian flu now appear endemic in wild birds, making farms prone to outbreaks all year, experts warn

Free-range chickens and eggs may no longer be feasible to produce in the UK and elsewhere in Europe in future due to a dramatic escalation in avian flu outbreaks, say leading disease experts.

The UK and continental Europe have been hit by the largest outbreak of avian flu on record this winter, with millions of birds culled on farms across the continent.

Experts say highly pathogenic variants of avian flu now appear to be endemic in wild birds, creating a risk of infection all year.

In the UK, farmers have been ordered to keep their birds indoors since last November and as of this week have been prevented from selling their eggs as free range.

The Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority has confirmed an unprecedented sixth mass coral bleaching event since 1998.

This is the first time mass bleaching has happened in a cooler La Niña year which scientists had hoped would be a period of recovery for corals.

Most reefs along that stretch were recorded as 'severe', which means at least 60% of an individual reef's corals had bleached. Some of those reefs also had corals that had bleached and then died in the last few weeks.

Dr Neal Cantin, an Australian Institute of Marine Science research scientist, led one of two observing teams and personally observed reefs from helicopters across 1,800km.

Between the Whitsunday Islands and Cooktown he says he 'did not fly over a reef and score it as "no bleaching".'

• Great Barrier Reef authority confirms unprecedented sixth mass coral bleaching event
  

Heating of the atmosphere, due to the burning of fossil fuels, is seemingly upending a process that long appeared unshakeable

The arrival of spring has seemingly immutable rituals – lengthening days, blossoming plants and a surge in bees’ activity. But the onset of spring is now being warped by the climate crisis, with new research finding that many species of birds are nesting and laying eggs nearly a month earlier than they did a century ago.

US scientists who analyzed the nesting trends of birds from egg samples collected in the Chicago area found that of the 72 species for which historical and modern data exists, around a third are now nesting much earlier in the year than before.

Aerial surveys show almost no reefs across a 1,200km stretch escaping the heat, prompting scientists to call for urgent action on climate crisis

• Get our free news app; get our morning email briefing

The Great Barrier Reef has been hit with a sixth mass coral bleaching event, the marine park’s authority has confirmed, with aerial surveys showing almost no reefs across a 1,200km stretch escaping the heat.

The Guardian understands a United Nations mission currently under way to check the health and management of the reef will be briefed on the initial findings of the surveys as early as Friday in Townsville.

Chris Bowen says Labor wants to ensure system has integrity after whistleblower’s claims

• Get our free news app; get our morning email briefing

Labor has promised an independent review of Australia’s carbon credit system if it wins government, saying it is concerned about whistleblower allegations the scheme is “largely a sham” that was wasting money and not reducing greenhouse gas emissions.

Chris Bowen, the opposition climate change and energy spokesman, said carbon credits were “very important”, would be “increasingly important” and Labor wanted to ensure the system had integrity.

Environmental campaigners make joint call as young people prepare for latest wave of global climate crisis school strikes

Russian and Ukrainian environmental activists have made a joint call for a European embargo on Russian oil, gas and coal, as children and young people prepare to take part in the latest wave of climate crisis school strikes and protests around the world.

Arina Bilai, 16, of Fridays for Future Ukraine, and Arshak Makichyan, 27, of Fridays for Future Russia, said a ban on trade in fossil fuels from Russia would starve its invasion of Ukraine of crucial funds, while accelerating Europe’s transition to clean energy.

The worst drought in 40 years has devastated crops and killed livestock across southern Angola, sending food prices soaring. The threat of famine is forcing people to migrate south to seek help across the border

• Photographs by Peter Caton for the Red Cross

Report from Shoal on 2021’s newly described species shows ‘there are still hundreds and hundreds more freshwater fish scientists don’t know about yet’

Scientists are celebrating 212 “new” freshwater fish species, including a blind eel found in the grounds of a school for blind children and a fish named Wolverine that is armed with a hidden weapons system.

The New Species 2021 report, released by the conservation organisation Shoal, shows just how diverse and remarkable the world’s often undervalued freshwater species are, and suggests there is plenty more life still to be discovered in the world’s lakes, rivers and wetlands.

Almost 90% of people in the UK recycle. But more than a tenth of everything we put out for recycling in this country is being burned. Why is this happening? Josh Toussaint-Strauss explores how local authorities have ended up incinerating so much of our recycling and what impact this is having on the environment

Traditional orchards, havens for wildlife, have been lost to housing and farmland, National Trust reports

A century ago, small orchards were the glory not only of the countryside but of towns and cities across the UK, buzzing with life during the summer and, at this time of year, rich with the sight and scent of blossom.

But research released as this spring’s blossom sweeps across the UK has found there are 80% fewer small “traditional” orchards, which are regarded as particularly important for flora and fauna, in England and Wales compared with in 1900.

New data suggests forests help keep the Earth at least half of a degree cooler, protecting us from the effects of climate crisis

The world’s forests play a far greater and more complex role in tackling climate crisis than previously thought, due to their physical effects on global and local temperatures, according to new research.

The role of forests as carbon sponges is well established. But comprehensive new data suggests that forests deliver climate benefits well beyond just storing carbon, helping to keep air near and far cool and moist due to the way they physically transform energy and water.

Australia already has energy independence and extracts more gas than it needs to meet domestic demand. Indeed three-quarters is exported as LNG

• Get our free news app; get our morning email briefing

The Morrison government has been promising a “gas-fired recovery” from the pandemic since not long after lockdowns began in early 2020. Over the past 18 months it has announced nearly $1bn in funding for gas projects.

But this has done almost nothing to aid the country’s recovery from the Covid recession for an obvious reason – gas power plants, pipelines and basins take years to develop and build. Further, as Greg Jericho has pointed out, the gas industry employs very few people.

Report finds intervention by energy minister Angus Taylor led to ‘mountain of oversupply’ and many projects will now be paused

• Get our free news app; get our morning email briefing

As a whistleblower alleges major failures in Australia’s carbon credit scheme, analysts say a plunge in the price of credits, triggered by a contentious change by the emissions reduction minister Angus Taylor, could last for years.

Earlier this month, Taylor announced landholders and other businesses with contracts to sell carbon credits to the government would be permitted to break those deals and instead sell them at a higher price on the private market.

PM ‘passionate’ about potential in light of fresh push for self-sufficiency after Russia invasion of Ukraine

Boris Johnson is expected to open the door to more onshore wind at next week’s energy strategy, despite some cabinet ministers lobbying against relaxing planning laws to allow more turbines.

The cabinet is split over whether to aim for more onshore wind projects, which can often get into lengthy planning battles, after officials drew up plans for a target of 30GW by 2030.

Under all likely scenarios, millions of people will still face energy bills that are unaffordable

• Spring statement: key points at a glance

The best news (but, critically, still not good news) for hard-pressed energy consumers this week could be found away from the chancellor’s tweaks to national insurance thresholds on Wednesday. It was the calculation by the consultancy Cornwall Insight that the energy price cap may not hit £3,000 when next adjusted in October. The latest estimate, derived from observing wholesale prices for gas and electricity, is £2,512.

There is no sense in which the £500-ish difference can be considered a saving, of course. An average bill for households of £2,500 or thereabouts would still be a mighty increase from the £1,971 that will apply from the start of next month, which itself is a jump from £1,277 today.

Government’s reef envoy says visiting scientists ‘have to see the good and the bad’ as widespread bleaching confirmed

• Follow our Australia news live blog for the latest updates
• Get our free news app; get our morning email briefing

A UN mission under way in Queensland to see if the Great Barrier Reef should be put on an “in danger” list will not get “the whole picture” unless it visits reefs currently experiencing coral bleaching, conservationists and the government’s own reef envoy have said.

Details of the 10-day mission, which began on Monday in Brisbane, are being kept confidential and the locations to be visited have not been formally disclosed.

One minister says windfarms are ‘not cost-effective’ and some prefer a push for fracking

Ministers have not yet made a final decision about whether to include a renewed push for onshore wind in next week’s energy independence plan, with some in cabinet sceptical about the move, government sources say.

The business secretary, Kwasi Kwarteng, has made clear publicly that he would like to see planning rules relaxed, in order to facilitate the building of more onshore windfarms. Michael Gove, who oversees the planning system, has also spoken out in favour.

Charity to look at how hedge varieties provide benefits such as rainwater control and wildlife shelter

Gardeners and homeowners should swap their fence for a hedge, the Royal Horticultural Society is urging as it begins a study into which species are best for tackling the climate crisis and pollution.

Scientists at the charity are looking into green infrastructure, particularly in urban areas. One example of such infrastructure is using hedges to mark boundaries between properties and gardens.

Campaigners warn time running out for governments to halt and reverse the destruction of wildlife and ecosystems that support the planet

Time is running out for governments to reach an ambitious Paris-style agreement for nature, say campaigners, who warn that crucial negotiations to protect biodiversity are moving at a “snail’s pace”.

Amid increasingly alarming scientific assessments about the state of life on Earth, negotiators are meeting in Geneva for talks aimed at halting and reversing the destruction of wildlife and ecosystems that support human civilisation.

The latest wave of climate deniers claim green schemes are ‘unaffordable’. Success stories from around Europe prove that’s not true

While all eyes were on another horror, our war against the living world went nuclear. Over the weekend, temperatures at some weather stations in the Arctic rose to 30C above normal. Simultaneously, at certain weather stations in the Antarctic they hit 40C above normal. Two events, albeit off the scale, do not make a trend. But as part of a gathering record of extreme and chaotic weather, these unprecedented, simultaneous anomalies are terrifying.

On their heels came news of another horrific event: mass coral bleaching on the Great Barrier Reef during a La Niña year. La Niña is the cool phase of the Pacific cycle. Until now, widespread bleaching had happened only during the warmer El Niño years. The likely impacts of the next El Niño are too awful to contemplate.

George Monbiot is a Guardian columnist. He will discuss Regenesis at a Guardian Live event on Monday 30 May. Book tickets in-person or online here