The Guardian

• IPCC report finds reduction in global heating requires transformation of food production and land management
• Climate crisis reducing land’s ability to sustain humanity, says IPCC

An Australian farming group has called for a fully funded national strategy to deal with climate change and agriculture, warning farmers don’t have enough support to manage increasing risks associated with global heating.

It comes as the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change special report on climate change and land, released in Geneva on Thursday, found limiting global heating to below 2C can only be achieved by reducing emissions from all sectors – including land and food.

UN report finds ecosystems never before under such threat and restoration is urgent

• How climate’s impact on land threatens civilisation – and how to fix it

The climate crisis is damaging the ability of the land to sustain humanity, with cascading risks becoming increasingly severe as global temperatures rise, according to a landmark UN report compiled by some of the world’s top scientists.

Global heating is increasing droughts, soil erosion and wildfires while diminishing crop yields in the tropics and thawing permafrost near the poles, says the report by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change.

Revolutionising the way we use land could cut emissions, provide sustainable food and reduce poverty

• Climate crisis reducing land’s ability to sustain humanity, says IPCC

Healthy land provides the food, timber and fresh water essential to humanity’s survival, but a UN report says the climate crisis is damaging this precious resource with potentially irreversible consequences.

The abuse of land by razing forests, intensive farming and loss of soils also produces a quarter of global emissions, further worsening the climate emergency, says the report by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC).

Staying within WHO pollution limits would prevent 11% of new diagnoses, study says

Almost 67,000 new cases of asthma in children across 18 European countries could be prevented every year if levels of tiny particulates polluting the air are cut to recommended levels, research suggests.

The study joins a growing body of research into the impact of air pollution on human health. A landmark study published in April estimated that 4m new asthma cases a year globally among those aged one to 18 were down to levels of nitrogen dioxide (NO2) in the air.

• Dramatic increase in bites continues recent upward trend
• North Carolina, Georgia and Texas on track to break records

Climate warming and the expansion of human settlements across the southern states of the US has led to a dramatic increase in the number of people bitten during encounters with venomous snakes, according to a report by the Wall Street Journal.

The increase in bites is on track to break records in North Carolina, Georgia and Texas where copperhead rattlesnakes are the dominant species, with a total of 2,118 bites, an increase of 83 over the previous year, the newspaper said. In Florida, where the eastern coral snake and the cottonmouth are common, numbers remain average.

Seagulls are intimidated by eye contact, a study has found. Just make sure you look away before four minutes have elapsed …

Name: The hard stare.

Age: Around as long as there have been eyes.

Action plan to be drawn up as dry summers, storms and pests destroy swathes of woodland

A catastrophic combination of heat, drought, storms, forest fires, beetle plagues and a fungi blight have so far this year destroyed swathes of German forest equivalent to more than 200,000 football fields.

Forests are one of the most efficient ways to reduce carbon dioxide emissions, and in Germany alone they are able to absorb 62 million tonnes of CO2 – about 7% of the country’s emissions – every year.

News comes as some evacuated residents are told they will be able to return home

It could take years to reconstruct the damaged dam above the Derbyshire town of Whaley Bridge, residents have been told, as some of the 1,500 evacuated were promised that they would now be allowed to return to their homes.

At a community meeting, Derbyshire police said that residents of one part of the town could begin to go back to the village after water levels in Toddbrook reservoir dropped rapidly. But some still face waiting until after a Wednesday inspection to be certain that their homes are absolutely safe.

Controversial tax hike could leave country lagging behind as continent powers ahead

The UK risks being left behind in Europe’s home battery boom because of a controversial tax hike on solar-battery systems, according to a report.

The energy consultancy Wood Mackenzie has predicted that Europe’s home battery capacity could climb fivefold in the next five years as more households plug their rooftop solar panels into battery packs.

Agriculture has become 48 times more toxic to insects in last 25 years as neonics are used on over 140 different types of crops

Agriculture in the United States has become 48 times more toxic to insects over the last 25 years, largely due to a controversial, widely-used class of pesticides that are particularly harmful to bees, according to a new study published Tuesday.

Neonicotinoid pesticides, also known as neonics, are used on more than 140 different types of crops, from apples to rice. Neonics are most persistent in corn and soybeans as the pesticide is used to coat the seeds of these crops.

John Vidal hit the nail on the head by linking Meghan and Harry’s choice to limit their family size for the sake of the climate to the lack of access many women globally have to services that would enable them to make the same choice (Having kids is bad for the planet. So are the royal jets, 1 August). Vidal highlighted that “many in areas of high growth want fewer children but cannot access contraception”, and as CEO of a global organisation providing women and girls with access to family planning, I agree. More than 214 million women and girls worldwide are unable to access contraception. Yet we know that when they have access to contraception and safe abortion, they often choose, like Meghan, to have smaller families.

Women are increasingly and disproportionately bearing the burden of the climate crisis. It often falls on women to care for growing families in worsening conditions. Droughts mean limited access to food and water. Rising sea levels lead to floods. Humans and animals are competing for dwindling resources, especially in countries that contribute least to global carbon emissions.

It’s the latest climate protest by environmental group Extinction Rebellion to hit Brisbane

Queensland police have arrested and charged 56 people at continuing climate protests in Brisbane, amid accusations officers employed heavy-handed and aggressive tactics to deal with the escalating civil disobedience.

The action, which was ongoing in the city centre on Tuesday afternoon, is the latest and largest in a series of protests by the environmental group Extinction Rebellion.

‘SharkCam’ could shed light on sex lives of basking sharks in Sea of the Hebrides

Basking sharks off the coast of the UK are having their own Love Island moment: an underwater robot has been filming their interactions to shed light on everything from sex to group behaviour.

Researchers say the autonomous “SharkCam”, which was deployed in July around the Inner Hebrides, has captured wide-angle high-definition video of sharks that have been tagged, with the team now wading through the footage.

Approval of the Wambo open-cut coalmine in the NSW Hunter Valley may be linked to the countries it exports to

Mining company Glencore could be forced to only sell coal from a new mine in New South Wales to signatories of the Paris climate agreement, under a proposal floated by the state’s independent planning commission.

Opposed by Glencore and its joint-venture partner in the mine, Peabody, the condition would see approval of the Wambo open-cut coalmine in the state’s Hunter Valley linked to the countries it exports to.

Thirty-one people refusing to leave extended evacuation zone despite warnings

An elderly married couple who are among the Whaley Bridge residents criticised by police for refusing to leave their homes at risk of catastrophic flooding have rejected claims they are needlessly putting emergency crews’ lives at risk.

Malcolm Venton and Lorraine Ellis say they could not leave their two border collies, Meg and Amy. The couple were asked to leave on Saturday when the evacuation zone was extended but decided to hunker down, despite the threat of a huge wave rushing out of the damaged Toddbrook reservoir.

Effort to stop 1.2m tonnes of water flooding town began with one man desperately trying to lower the water level

Last Thursday, as water rushed over the dam wall holding back the Toddbrook reservoir, a lone Canal & River Trust employee fought against the deluge, desperately trying to lower the water level.

Heavy rain had led to an excess of water cascading over the spillway above the town of Whaley Bridge in the Peak District. This would not normally be an issue, but as the torrent continued the spillway started to erode and concrete ballasts began to rip away.

Most of the animals at the Santa Cruz Foundation in San Antonio, Colombia, have been rescued from traffickers and circuses. The multimillion-dollar illegal wildlife trade is the fourth-largest in the country after drugs, guns and human trafficking

Death toll almost half that of US troops killed in Afghanistan and Iraq since 2001, data shows

Killings of environmental defenders have doubled over the past 15 years to reach levels usually associated with war zones, according to a study that reveals how murders of activists are concentrated in countries with the worst corruption and weakest laws.

At least 1,558 people in 50 states were killed between 2002 and 2017 while trying to protect their land, water or local wildlife, says the analysis, which calculates the death toll is almost half that of US troops killed in Iraq and Afghanistan since 2001.

The fracking company will ask Lancashire council to change its licence, which ends in November

UK shale gas company Cuadrilla will ask for extra time to drill for shale gas at its Lancashire fracking site after its November deadline.

Within the next month the fracking pioneer will ask Lancashire county council for permission to continue its drilling campaign until at least the spring of 2021.

Critically endangered Monaro and Werriwa grassy woodlands affected by new regulation

The New South Wales government has made it easier for landholders to clear critically endangered grassy woodlands for agriculture and forestry in the state’s south east.

The environment minister, Matt Kean, and the agriculture minister, Adam Marshall, have introduced a regulation that covers two grassy woodlands newly listed as critically endangered under NSW laws: the Monaro grassy woodlands and the Werriwa grassy woodlands.