The Guardian

Bleak picture for biodiversity as analysis of over 80,000 species forecasts more losers than winners

Researchers have categorised more than 80,000 plant species worldwide and found that most of them will “lose” in the face of humanity – going extinct because people don’t need them.

This means that plant communities of the future will be hugely more homogenised than those of today, according to the paper published in the journal Plants, People, Planet.

Businesses blamed for rise of toxic hotspots hitting poor communities hardest

A UN expert has warned of the creation of pollution “sacrifice zones” across the world, where tens of millions of people are suffering strokes, cancers, respiratory problems and heart disease as a result of toxic contamination of the environment.

“There are sacrifice zones all over the world, in every region: in the north, in the south, in the east, in the west, in rich countries, in poor countries,” David Boyd told the Guardian.

Negotiators aim to agree on legal framework for protecting international waters that are key to ‘life as we know it’

The world has a “once in a lifetime” chance to protect the high seas from exploitation, warned scientists and environmentalists, as negotiators meet at the UN headquarters in New York this week to hammer out a new treaty on the oceans.

One scientist described the treaty, which will set out a legal framework to protect biodiversity and govern the high seas, as the most significant ocean protection agreement for four decades.

Four studies are first to support theory PFAS could hinder body’s ability to fight virus, but authors say more is research needed

Higher levels of exposure to toxic PFAS “forever chemicals” may increase the likelihood of Covid-19 infection, more serious symptoms and death, a group of recent studies have found.

Public health advocates and researchers have feared since the coronavirus pandemic’s onset that PFAS, which are known to be immunotoxic, could hinder the body’s ability to fight Covid-19, and the four studies represent the first bit of research supporting the theory. However, the authors caution that more research is needed.

Changes to birds’ size, habits and morphology have been linked to rising temperatures

Global warming is changing European birds as we know them, a study has found, but it’s not just the increase in temperature that’s to blame.

Researchers have found that garden warblers, for example, are having a quarter fewer chicks, which has huge implications for the species. Chiffchaffs are laying their eggs 12 days earlier. Members of the passerine family are getting smaller, while redstarts are getting larger.

Slower driving and shorter showers could help Britain wean itself off Russian resources

The prime minister’s pledge to join the US in phasing out Russian oil – and exploring ways to do the same with gas – is aimed at hitting the Kremlin’s coffers but it also presents a problem for the UK.

In Britain, about 4% of gas and 8% of oil comes from Russia, far lower than its European neighbours. But turmoil in the energy markets has sent gas and petrol prices soaring, exacerbating the cost of living crisis. Weaning ourselves off Russian resources – by sourcing supplies elsewhere or pursuing the increased use of renewables and nuclear – will cost money and take time.

Environment groups say visiting scientists must be given true picture of the reef, ahead of world heritage committee meeting in June

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A United Nations monitoring trip to the Great Barrier Reef will land in Queensland later this month just as forecasts suggest the risk of widespread coral bleaching will be at its highest.

Unesco has confirmed two scientists will carry out the mission, requested by the Morrison government, lasting for 10 days from 21 March.

This is Lismore’s second natural disaster in five years. The Coalition government doesn’t care about us

• Scott Morrison circus fails to impress Lismore, a town that has lost everything

This time was going to be different; we were prepared. I felt proud of us as I witnessed the entire Lismore CBD packing up, lifting things to above the 12.12m record, ready to brace for what happened just under five years ago. We all had a flood plan. We moved our cars higher up. But this time was different: it broke all records, and it’s broken our town.

A friend said to me as I plugged my phone into my emergency power pack, taking refuge in the roof cavity of my home in South Lismore: “Don’t worry mate, the army have arrived, shouldn’t be too long.”

Australia has been through worse, Chris Kenny contends, while Andrew Bolt suggests global heating is ‘brilliant for farmers’

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Floods and their causes are complicated and there has been a clamour for answers from Australians over the role global heating could have played in the devastation left along the east coast this week.

But one thing several of Australia’s conservative commentators are sure about is that the climate crisis had nothing to do with it.

Hill’s horseshoe bat, which conservationists feared was extinct, discovered clinging to life in Nyungwe rainforest

A critically endangered species of bats not sighted in 40 years has been found in Rwanda, with the “incredible” discovery delighting conservationists who had feared it was already extinct.

But the Hill’s horseshoe bat was in fact still clinging to life in Rwanda’s Nyungwe forest – a dense rainforest that is home to endangered mountain gorillas – the consortium behind the discovery said.

More than a million single-use grills end up in UK landfill each year

Waitrose and Aldi are to stop selling disposable BBQs because of their impact on the natural environment and wildlife.

As the weather gets hotter, British people flock to the supermarket to buy the foil devices so they can sit in parks or gardens and sizzle sausages.

Environmental agencies investigated reports of dredging, illegal tree felling and profiling of banks of protected river

A landowner is facing legal action for what environmental regulators say is the decimation of a protected river.

Natural England and the Environment Agency (EA) say the charges against the landowner include causing damage to a site of special scientific interest (SSSI), carrying out clearance and reprofiling of the riverbank which was likely to cause damage to or endanger the stability of the river and allowing silt to discharge into the river.

Anecdotal evidence from scuba divers of draughtsboard sharks sleeping backed up by researchers

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Scientific evidence of sharks sleeping has been documented in Australia for the first time.

A team of scientists has observed sleep in draughtsboard sharks, a bottom-dwelling species endemic to Australia, by analysing the animals’ metabolism and posture.

Scott Morrison brings his signature crisis characteristics – passivity and blame-shifting – to Lismore

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Scott Morrison was prepared to acknowledge some realities when he arrived in Lismore on Wednesday.

Australia was becoming a harder country to live in because of natural disasters, like the black summer bushfires, and the latest catastrophic floods that have killed more than 20 people. “We are dealing with a different climate to the one we are dealing with before,” the prime minister said.

Like Paris climate agreement, treaty could provide tool to hold firms and states to account, say legal experts

A series of lawsuits against plastic producers and governments is expected after a “historic” international agreement on waste, say legal experts.

Last week, world leaders agreed to draw up a legally binding treaty over the next two years that covered the full lifecycle of plastics from production to disposal. The move was described by the head of the UN Environment Programme as the most important multilateral environmental deal since the Paris agreement in 2015.

Regulator taking action against Anglian, Northumbrian, Thames, Wessex and Yorkshire Water

The water regulator Ofwat has serious concerns over the way sewage treatment works at five water companies have been operated, as it continues to investigate the industry.

Anglian Water, Northumbrian Water, Thames Water, Wessex Water and Yorkshire Water submitted reports in December that the regulator, Ofwat, said were worrying. It said on Wednesday it had started enforcement cases against all five companies.

Government says shale gas wells will be closed by June deadline as calls grow from lobbyists to revive drilling

The UK’s position on fracking “has not changed”, and shale gas wells will be closed with concrete by the 30 June deadline despite pressure from the rightwing press and backbench Conservatives, according to a government spokesperson.

On Tuesday, Steve Baker, the MP for High Wycombe and trustee of the controversial climate sceptic thinktank Global Warming Policy Foundation, hosted the shale gas lobby along with MPs and journalists in the Houses of Parliament. The event took place as the government committed to phasing out Russian oil and gas by the end of the year, and reports in rightwing media suggested that fracking could be revived in the UK.

While cause remains unconfirmed, green groups fear the three whales could be the ‘tip of iceberg’ with many more animals hurt

Environmental groups have linked the beaching of three whales in Corfu to seismic testing for oil and gas in the waters off the Greek island.

Two Cuvier’s beaked whales were found stranded at Arillas and Agios Gordios beaches on the west of the island on 20 February. A third beaked whale ran ashore on Agios Gordios beach the day after.

Starving Putin’s military machine of funds and preventing the collapse of life on Earth: we can do both at once

As Russia threatens to cut off the fossil gas on which much of Europe depends, the continent’s storage facilities are a crucial line of defence. So you’ll be glad to hear that Germany possesses a massive gas storage reservoir, under the town of Rehden, in Lower Saxony. The biggest strategic reserve in western Europe, it can hold enough fossil gas to supply 2 million households for a year.

You’ll be less delighted to discover who owns it. It belongs to a company called Astora. Astora is a subsidiary of the Russian state company Gazprom. Altogether, it owns about one-quarter of Germany’s gas stores. All of them are almost empty. They have been run down to 10% or less of their capacity. According to the German minister for economic affairs and climate action, these storage facilities have been “systematically emptied”.

George Monbiot is a Guardian columnist and the author of Feral, The Age of Consent and Out of the Wreckage: a New Politics for an Age of Crisis

Asset manager ‘trying to have their cake and eat it’, says Greenpeace, as freedom of information requests reveal pressure on major banks

Emails have revealed the high-wire act performed by major banks and the world’s biggest asset manager, BlackRock, as they privately soothe oil industry concerns about their public support for greener investment.

In his annual letter to chief executives, BlackRock boss Larry Fink said that pursuing climate action policies was not about being “woke” but was about pursuing profits on behalf of clients.