The Guardian

Reduction in insect numbers contributes to drop, and there are declines across more than a third of bird species surveyed

Swallows, swifts and house martins were once a common sight over UK towns and cities, dextrously catching insects on the wing. But these spring and summer visitors are becoming increasingly rare, according to the definitive survey of the country’s birds.

Populations of these insect-eating birds have dropped by 40% or more in the past decade, according to the latest Breeding Bird Survey (BBS) report.

Russian constitutional court is considering claim, which activists hope will raise awareness about emissions

A group of activists are fighting for the right to scrutinise Russia’s climate policies, and in particular its enormous methane emissions, in court.

Russia’s constitutional court is considering a claim brought by 18 individuals and the NGO Ecodefense that insufficient action by the Russian state to cut national greenhouse gas emissions is violating their rights to life, health and a healthy environment.

The Strawberry Line network of paths in Somerset has found a way to speed up planning permission and harness the goodwill of the community

In the past two years, multiple sections of a hoped-for 76-mile rural cycling and walking route spanning Somerset have sprouted up around the small town of Shepton Mallet, seemingly every few weeks.

These new routes are popular. One 300-metre section of path in the heart of the town, for example, uses one of Historic Railway Estates’ bridges for the first time for a cycle route (an organisation usually more given to infilling its structures).

Sir John Armitt urges ministers to act swiftly or risk impeding growth and jeopardising climate targets

Rishi Sunak’s U-turns over net zero have delayed progress on vital infrastructure that is needed for economic growth, the government’s advisers have said.

Sir John Armitt, the chair of the National Infrastructure Commission (NIC), said good progress had been made on renewable energy in the past five years, but changes to key policies, including postponing a scheme to boost heat pump takeup, had created uncertainty and delay.

The government will fail to meet its targets on heat pump rollout.

The promised lifting of a ban on new onshore windfarms has not gone far enough.

Massive investment is needed in the electricity grid.

There is no proper plan for rail in the north and Midlands now that the northern leg of HS2 has been cancelled, severely inhibiting economic growth in those regions.

Water bills will need to go up to fix the sewage crisis, and more reservoirs are needed to avoid drought, while water companies have done too little to staunch leaks.

The UK lacks a coherent strategy on flooding, with more than 900,000 properties at risk of river or sea flooding and 910,000 at risk of surface water flooding.

Good progress has been made on the rollout of gigabit broadband around the country.

Labor’s Future Made in Australia policy has enough money to move the needle. What matters is implementation – and readiness to adjust course if needed

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Business groups such as ours, alongside investors, unions and climate campaigners, have been calling out for a big push on clean economy investment.

So what should we make of the 2024-25 budget and have those calls been answered?

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Footage on social media showed roads full of cars evacuating the suburbs of Fort McMurray in the western Canadian province of Alberta. A growing blaze threatened the city and its surroundings, which experienced devastating fires in 2016. Local officials have ordered thousands to evacuate as the fire grows in size and strength, with winds fanning the flames. 'We’re seeing extreme fire behaviour. Smoke columns are developing and the skies are covered in smoke. Firefighters have been pulled from the fire line for safety reasons,' Josee St-Onge of Alberta Wildfire told reporters

• Canada city devastated by 2016 wildfire faces evacuations as new blaze nears

South West Water has detected ‘small traces’ of parasite in drinking supply that can cause diarrhoea-type disease

Boil your tap water before you drink it, residents in Devon have been told, after 22 cases of a parasitic disease were confirmed.

South West Water has detected what it calls “small traces” of a parasite that can cause a diarrhoea-type disease in the drinking supply around the town of Brixham.

Missing a target doesn’t mean the sense of emergency should fade. What it must do is stop politicians dithering – and fast

I remember the first time I heard the 1.5C target. It was in a room at the Copenhagen climate talks in 2009. With the expectation of a binding agreement slipping away and negotiations failing, some of us activists joined delegates from vulnerable African and island nations in chanting “1.5 to stay alive”. It was a frank recognition that the 2C goal the climate diplomats were endlessly talking about – though not pursuing – was insufficient to deal with the increasingly clear realities of climate science.

Since then, three things have happened.

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

Labour MP says privatisation is a failure and industry incapable of building infrastructure to deal with effects of climate breakdown

The privatisation of the water industry has failed and it should be brought into public ownership, the Labour MP Clive Lewis has said.

In an early day motion laid before parliament, Lewis said the industry had proved it was not capable of building the infrastructure required to deal with the impact of climate breakdown, including increased flooding and droughts.

Ban Khun Samut Chin, a coastal village in Samut Prakan province, Thailand, has been slowly swallowed by the sea over the past few decades. This has led to the relocation of the school and many homes, resulting in a dwindling population. Currently, there are only four students attending the school, often leaving just one in each classroom. The village has experienced severe coastal erosion, causing 1.1-2km (0.5-1.2 miles) of shoreline to disappear since the mid-1950s

Free-roaming animals reintroduced in Romania’s Țarcu mountains are stimulating plant growth and securing carbon stored in the soil while grazing

A herd of 170 bison reintroduced to Romania’s Țarcu mountains could help store CO2 emissions equivalent to removing almost 2m cars from the road for a year, research has found, demonstrating how the animals help mitigate the worst effects of the climate crisis.

European bison disappeared from Romania more than 200 years ago, but Rewilding Europe and WWF Romania reintroduced the species to the southern Carpathian mountains in 2014. Since then, more than 100 bison have been given new homes in the Țarcu mountains, growing to more than 170 animals today, one of the largest free-roaming populations in Europe. The landscape holds the potential for 350-450 bison.

Cross-party group of 50 calls on prime minister to appoint climate envoy and back Beyond Oil and Gas Alliance

A cross-party group of MPs and peers has urged Rishi Sunak to make a U-turn on his oil and gas extraction plans as part of a broader plea to increase efforts to address the climate crisis.

The 50 politicians, including three Conservatives, wrote to the prime minister calling for the UK to regain its international leadership on the crisis by ending the licensing of new oil and gas fields, appointing a climate envoy, and backing the Beyond Oil and Gas Alliance.

Human-caused climate crisis brought soaring temperatures across Asia, from Gaza to Delhi to Manila

The record-breaking heatwave that scorched the Philippines in April would have been impossible without the climate crisis, scientists have found. Searing heat above 40C (104F) struck across Asia in April, causing deaths, water shortages, crop losses and widespread school closures.

The extreme heat was made 45 times more likely in India and five times more likely in Israel and Palestine, the study found. The scientists said the high temperatures compounded the already dire humanitarian crisis in Gaza, where displaced people are living in overcrowded shelters with little access to water.

Experts say changing climate is ‘threat multiplier’ and that US and Germany already include it in planning

The US, Germany and other countries are putting the climate crisis at the heart of their national security plans but the UK is failing to do likewise, experts have told the government.

Extreme weather and heat are killing increasing numbers of people, damaging economies and forcing millions around the world to flee their homes, adding to an already unstable geopolitical situation, MPs were told on Tuesday at a select committee hearing.

National Farmers’ Union president warns food production is likely to drop next year and says farmers need help right now

Rishi Sunak’s plan to improve the UK’s food security will not help build farmer’s confidence in the short-term, the head of the country’s biggest farming body has said.

Food production was likely to drop next year, said Tom Bradshaw, the president of the National Farmers’ Union, who warned that the prime minister’s plan, published during the UK’s second annual Farm to Fork summit, failed to give farmers the solutions they needed.

Extra 270 million adults aged 69 or over will suffer dangerous heat levels of 37.5C amid global heating and ageing populations

The heat exposure of older people will at least double in all continents by 2050, according to a study that highlights the combined risk posed by a heating world and an ageing population.

Compared with today, there will be up to an extra 250 million people aged 69 or above who are exposed to dangerous levels of heat, defined as 37.5C. The paper warned this is likely to create biological and social vulnerability hotspots with increasing concentrations of older adults and high temperature extremes.

IPS report says replacement fuels well off track to replace kerosene within timeframe needed to avert climate disaster

Hopes that replacement fuels for airplanes will slash carbon pollution are misguided and support for these alternatives could even worsen the climate crisis, a new report has warned.

There is currently “no realistic or scalable alternative” to standard kerosene-based jet fuels, and touted “sustainable aviation fuels” are well off track to replace them in a timeframe needed to avert dangerous climate change, despite public subsidies, the report by the Institute for Policy Studies, a progressive thinktank, found.

Farmer confidence at low ebb amid fears for their future as experts say extreme weather will hit crop yields

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Rishi Sunak will launch his food security index to farmers on Tuesday, as experts predict extreme weather this year could cut UK self-sufficiency by 8%.

The prime minister is hosting a farm to fork summit at Downing Street and will say: “I know for many farmers the impact of adverse weather in recent months has made working the land even harder, but my message is clear, our support for you is unwavering and we will be with you every step of the way.”

The crocodile measuring more than four metres long was captured in a north Queensland marina after lunging at a man on a houseboat. The reptile was reported to authorities after launching itself at the houseboat and, in a separate incident, taking a dog. The animal was captured at Cardwell Marina, north of Townsville

• Huge crocodile captured in north Queensland marina after lunging at man on houseboat and snatching dog

Government told Net Zero Teesside gas scheme will be massive polluter despite its carbon capture claims

A multibillion-pound “net zero” project backed by two of the world’s biggest fossil fuel firms will be responsible for more than 20m tonnes of planet-heating carbon over its lifetime, according to research submitted to the UK government.

The Net Zero Teesside scheme to build a new gas-fired power station in north-east England is backed by BP and Equinor and says it will use carbon capture and storage (CCS) technology to capture up to 95% of its emissions and bury them beneath the North Sea.