The Guardian

As UN expert says UK’s actions are chilling and regressive, we look at some of the cases

• UN expert condemns UK crackdown on environmental protest

The UN special rapporteur on environmental defenders Michel Forst has said the UK’s crackdown on climate protesters is chilling, regressive and a restriction on fundamental freedoms.

We look at some of the cases:

Defendants on trial for peaceful protest were forbidden from mentioning the words climate change, fuel poverty or the civil rights movement when they were on trial for public nuisance. Several people, including a social worker, David Nixon, and the Dorset councillor Giovanna Lewis, were jailed for contempt of court when they defied the restrictions to explain their motivations for taking action to the jury.

A retired social worker, Trudi Warner, is being prosecuted for contempt of court for holding up a sign outside a court defending the right of juries to decide a case on their conscience. The decision to prosecute was made by the then solicitor general Michael Tomlinson KC, a minister and the Conservative MP for Mid Dorset and North Poole.

Stephen Gingell, 57, was jailed for six months after pleading guilty to taking part in a peaceful slow march protest on a London road. The sentence is thought to be the first jailing under the Public Order Act 2023, which includes an offence of “interference with key national infrastructure”. Gingell is appealing.

Civil injunctions have been issued to hundreds of individuals. National Highways has injunctions covering 4,300 miles of motorways and major A roads. Anyone who breaches this injunction faces imprisonment and/or an unlimited fine. Any corporation can apply for a civil injunction, and individuals can be punished without a trial.

Marcus Decker and Morgan Trowland made history as the peaceful protesters who have received the longest jail sentences in modern history in the UK when they were sentenced to two years and seven months, and three years respectively for public nuisance. They climbed the Queen Elizabeth II bridge over the Dartford Crossing and unveiled a banner for Just Stop Oil in 2022. The longest jail term issued to the suffragettes was three months.

UN special rapporteur on environmental defenders says he is seriously concerned about ‘regressive new laws’

A severe crackdown on environmental protest in Britain with “draconian” new laws, excessive restrictions on courtroom evidence and the use of civil injunctions is having a chilling impact on fundamental freedoms, the United Nations special rapporteur has said.

As the world faces a triple planetary crisis of climate change, biodiversity loss and pollution, environmental protesters were acting for the “benefit of us all” and must be protected, Michel Forst, the UN special rapporteur on environmental defenders, said on Tuesday.

Cookstove projects are one of the fastest-growing carbon offset schemes but research finds carbon benefits are vastly overstated

Clean cookstove projects, one of the most popular types of carbon-offset schemes, are probably overstating their beneficial impact on the climate by an average of 1,000%, according to a new study.

Every year, an estimated 3.2 million people die prematurely from household air pollution caused by cooking with smoky fuels such as wood, paraffin or kerosene, which produce about 2% of global greenhouse gas emissions.

Find more age of extinction coverage here, and follow biodiversity reporters Phoebe Weston and Patrick Greenfield on X for all the latest news and features

Campaigners say 76% decline in riverfly species’ abundance at Cunsey Beck is being caused by sewage discharges

Testing by citizen scientists of a beck that feeds into Windermere has revealed a huge loss in invertebrate life in the lake in Cumbria that campaigners say is being caused by sewage discharges.

Save Windermere and WildFish carried out testing for invertebrates in Cunsey Beck, a site of special scientific interest (SSSI), in order to assess the impact on its freshwater ecology of the Near Sawrey wastewater treatment works, owned and operated by United Utilities.

Former Cop26 president criticises the government’s push to ‘max out’ the North Sea

Alok Sharma has said the government’s oil and gas bill going through the Commons will not cut household energy costs or create jobs and instead will break the UK’s promise to phase out fossil fuels.

During a debate on the offshore petroleum licensing bill, which would place the North Sea Transition Authority under a duty to run annual applications for new offshore oil and gas licences, the former Cop26 president criticised the government’s push to “max out” the North Sea. MPs vote on the bill’s second reading on Monday night.

As they get bigger, the environmental harm caused by motor vehicles also grows. Setting some limits is the way forward

Bigger cars take up more room, and in cities where space is at a premium this is recognised as a problem. Polling last year showed 40% of people in the UK had a negative view of 4x4-type vehicles, while just 21% had a positive one. Negative views are even more pronounced in London, while the Midlands – historic heart of the UK motor industry – has a more positive attitude to big vehicles than anywhere else. Since 2001, new cars in the UK and Europe have grown 1cm wider every two years. Last year the average width passed 180cm, too big to fit comfortably in some parking spaces. Campaigners warn that unless regulators step in, cars could keep growing to match trucks and buses.

Taking space away from other road users is not the only problem with these supersized vehicles. Because they are bigger, heavier and higher off the ground, SUVs pose greater risks than other cars to anyone unlucky enough to collide with them. One study found that children are eight times more likely to die after being struck by one.

They don’t chew: they bite, the meat goes straight into their stomach, and they bite again

Imagine a bulldog flattened with a meat tenderiser, shaved and sprinkled with glitter. Imagine more, and everywhere, or else: when I was a child, as sure as all cartoon sand would turn into quicksand, in every fictional body of fresh water swam very real fish with very real, sharp, tiny little teeth.

In The Simpsons, Millhouse is more worried about piranhas than that his mother will stop loving him. Bart is reduced to a skeleton by piranhas from a hosepipe.

Mercury reaches 48.3C on western coast on Sunday, while Northern Territory hit by rainfall far beyond norm

A severe heatwave in Australia led to daily temperatures exceeding 40C (104F) for vast swathes of the country over the weekend, with the Pilbara region in Western Australia particularly badly affected.

After peaking at 47.9C on Saturday, in the remote town of Paraburdoo, Sunday’s highest confirmed temperature at the time of writing was 48.3C, at Onslow airport on the western coast. Onslow is also the joint record holder for Australia’s highest-ever recorded temperature, having reached 50.7C in January 2022. This record could be under threat as the heatwave continues into Monday and Tuesday, with daily maximums of 50-51C possible in the same region.

Global industry is set on a course of decarbonisation – but Rishi Sunak is fatally in thrall to the Tory anti-environment right

Of all Rishi Sunak’s blunders and policy decisions in 2023, perhaps the most consequential was his move to delay key milestones on the way to net zero. Sunak postponed the banning of sales of petrol and diesel cars and domestic boilers two months after the government authorised more carbon extraction from the North Sea. Cue outrage from the capitalists to the greens, from greens to even some Tories. What on earth was he doing?

There is perhaps some sense in his decision to slow down. If net zero by 2050 is the final target, then the means of getting there must be realistic. But as our climate becomes more inhospitable, affecting food imports, infrastructure and ultimately living standards, the goal must instead be to reduce global emissions as quickly as possible, not meet a distant date for net zero. Yes, realistic means to decarbonise the British economy are needed, but he has not provided them. On the contrary, he is willing away the means, as he admits they are lacking.

David Edgerton is Hans Rausing Professor of the history of science and technology and professor of modern British history at King’s College London

Wild freshwater eels are at risk of extinction due to overfishing but their meat can now be cultivated from cells

The first lab-grown freshwater eel meat has been produced, potentially solving a diner’s dilemma. Rampant overfishing has caused eel populations to plummet and prices to soar, but the cultivated eel could provide the delicacy guilt-free.

The eel meat was produced by Forsea Foods in Israel from embryonic cells of the Japanese unagi eel. The company collaborated with a Japanese chef to create unagi kabayaki, marinated grilled eel over rice, and unagi nigiri, a type of sushi.

Economists say funding energy infrastructure, transport, tech and the environment will aid prosperity

The UK should invest £26bn a year in a low-carbon economy to revive prosperity instead of planning tax giveaways that will only lead to further stagnation, leading economists have advised.

Investing in energy infrastructure, transport, innovation in new technologies such as AI, and the natural environment would boost the UK’s economy rapidly, the research found.

Anna McMorrin says Labour ‘absolutely determined’ on net zero after visiting Antarctica and finding report by her father, a polar researcher

When Anna McMorrin MP visited the Antarctic as part of a government inquiry, she stumbled upon a report in the Rothera Research Station library that her father, a polar researcher, had written in 1962.

It described the Larsen ice shelf, a beautiful stretch of thousands of miles of thick, white, crystalline snow – which has now almost completely melted away.

Dithering on renewable energy and insulation will leave people in Britain ‘colder and poorer’, campaigners warn

Rishi Sunak is facing further attacks on his plans to expand oil and gas exploration in the North Sea this week. The Offshore Petroleum Licensing Bill – to be debated in the Commons on Monday – has already triggered widespread protests, including the resignation of Chris Skidmore, a former Conservative energy minister.

The bill aims to boost fossil fuel extraction by establishing a new system under which licences for North Sea oil and gas projects will be awarded annually.

I discovered the Roma Street parkland as a place to run. It’s a wondrous oasis. Tip: there’s quite a bit of my love left on Banyan Lawn

• This is part of a series in which writers tell us about their summers away from the beach
• Find more essential summer reading

Maiwar is the heart of Meanjin in summer. It’s running or walking along its banks under the shady canopy of the jacaranda and poinciana trees of the West End, past the vibrant, human-made beach at South Bank, and around the winding, bustling paths at the base of the Kangaroo Point cliffs, where the whiff of mangroves reminds me of their place in the ecosystem, holding the banks in place.

I run at daybreak in summer to beat the humidity, yet beads of sweat still form before I hit my first kilometre. And while anxiety often plagues me, the sky’s reflection in the glassy river offers tranquillity and calm in an otherwise turbulent world.

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With foul rivers and polluted soil, the ‘conserve’ in Conservative clearly does not extend to our natural world

As we sip our pints of wine, clutching our blue passports, we could be forgiven for taking a deep breath when told of the benefits of Brexit. Yet this could become increasingly hard to do, as the promise to maintain or even enhance our environment now that we have left the EU is being broken.

While no campaign bus was ever emblazoned with promises of foul rivers and polluted soil, post-Brexit it is becoming clear that the “conserve” in Conservative doesn’t extend to our natural world. European directives previously accounted for 80% of our laws in this area – creating shared standards we helped write to prevent contamination, reduce emissions and preserve habitats. By working collectively, we could also ensure no country was economically harmed because no border can stop pollution.

Stella Creasy is the Labour and Cooperative MP for Walthamstow

MEPs react to ‘tragic’ findings revealing UK falling behind EU in key environmental policies since Brexit

• Brexit divergence from EU destroying UK’s environmental protections
• Northern Ireland ‘dirty corner of Europe due to lack of governance’
• Explainer: UK environmental protections dropped since Brexit

European lawmakers have lamented the UK’s decision to weaken environmental rules since leaving the EU, after the Guardian revealed it is falling behind in almost every policy area.

One Green group MEP said the findings were “tragic” while a centre-right MEP said the divergences were “particularly bad” for companies that want to do business on both sides of the Channel.

Reef, which extends for 310 miles from Florida to South Carolina and at some points is 68 miles wide, called ‘breathtaking in scale’

Scientists have mapped the largest known deep-sea coral reef, stretching hundreds of miles off the US Atlantic coast.

While researchers have known since the 1960s that coral is present off the Atlantic, the reef’s size remained a mystery until new underwater mapping technology made it possible to construct 3D images of the ocean floor.

Exclusive: Britain is falling behind the bloc on almost every area of green regulation, analysis reveals

• Northern Ireland ‘dirty corner of Europe due to lack of governance’
• Explainer: UK environmental protections dropped since Brexit

Vital legal protections for the environment and human health are being destroyed in post-Brexit departures from European legislation, a detailed analysis by the Guardian reveals.

The UK is falling behind the EU on almost every area of environmental regulation, as the bloc strengthens its legislation while the UK weakens it. In some cases, ministers are removing EU-derived environmental protections from the statute book entirely.

Water in the UK will be dirtier than in the EU.

There will be more pesticides in Britain’s soil.

Companies will be allowed to produce products containing chemicals that the EU has restricted for being dangerous.

EU-derived air pollution laws that will be removed under the retained EU law bill.

Dozens of chemicals banned in the EU are still available for use in the UK.

Thirty-six pesticides banned in the EU have not been outlawed in the UK.

The UK is falling behind on reducing carbon emissions as the EU implements carbon pricing.

The EU is compensating those who are struggling to afford the costs of the green transition, while the UK is not.

The EU is implementing stricter regulations on battery recycling, while the UK is not.

Deforestation is being removed from the EU supply chain, while the UK’s proposed scheme is more lax and does not come in until a year later.

Panel was originally composed of 28 men, a move condemned as ‘regressive’ and ‘shocking’

The president of Azerbaijan has added 11 women to the previously all-male organising committee for the Cop29 global climate summit, which the country will host in December.

The move follows a backlash after the Guardian reported the initial 28-man composition of the committee, which was called “regressive” by the She Changes Climate campaign group. “Climate change affects the whole world, not half of it,” the group said.

The four inhabitants of Morillo de Sampietro, an abandoned village in the Pyrenees, live a simple life

The tiny hamlet of Morillo de Sampietro stands high above a steep, wooded valley in the Spanish Pyrenees. Below is the glint of the Rio Yesa, beyond are the snow-capped peaks of Monte Perdido.

In 1860 Morillo had 76 inhabitants; by 1995 only two remained. Now there are four.