The Guardian

World’s biggest wildlife citizen survey maps changing fortunes of Britain’s bird populations

The garden of 1979 was filled with glossy gangs of starlings, the atonal chirp of sparrows and the tap-tap of song thrushes breaking open snail shells.

In 2019, you’re more likely to hear the screech of a ring-necked parakeet, the “coo” of a collared dove or the “woo” of a woodpigeon.

Forget the kangaroo and koala. Our new podcast dives deep into the world of Australian animals, looking beyond the old favourites to the most unusual, rare and fascinating wildlife found down under. Join host Benjamin Law as he learns about their amazing lives and hears from people who have formed a special connection to these animals.

Levels of the climate-warming gas are set to rise by near-record amounts, Met Office predicts

The level of climate-warming carbon dioxide (CO2) in the atmosphere is forecast to rise by a near-record amount in 2019, according to the Met Office.

The increase is being fuelled by the continued burning of fossil fuels and the destruction of forests, and will be particularly high in 2019 due to an expected return towards El Niño-like conditions. This natural climate variation causes warm and dry conditions in the tropics, meaning the plant growth that removes CO2 from the air is restricted.

US will become increasingly reliant on natural gas and could become a net energy exporter by next year

The US could become a net energy exporter by next year as oil and gas production expands, according to new projections from the Energy Information Administration.

America is becoming increasingly reliant on natural gas – a fossil fuel that contributes to climate change but less so than coal. Solar power will grow rapidly too. Both will replace nuclear and coal power plants that are more expensive.

Number of students skipping school in protests inspired by Greta Thunberg, 16, reaches record numbers around world

The number of students participating in school strikes for climate action is continuing to rise around the world.

Last week more than 60,000 students refused to go to their classes, the largest number yet.

When blue-green algae blooms on the river, everyone is told not to touch it. But in drought, there may be no other water

On the nearly 900km of the Darling River from below the Bourke weir to just above Wentworth, farmers on remote properties are dealing with a water crisis that would usually only be experienced in third world countries.

While there is some water treatment in the small towns along the river, the farmers often have no choice but to ignore the warnings about using the river water.

Letter to Shinzō Abe signed by Ricky Gervais and Stephen Fry attacks decision to leave IWC

Celebrities and environmentalists are demanding Japan reverse its decision to resume whaling, condemning the “cruel and archaic practice which has no place in the 21st century”.

An open letter to the Japanese prime minister, Shinzō Abe, criticises Tokyo’s decision to leave the International Whaling Commission (IWC), as campaigners plan a peaceful protest march on the Japanese embassy in London on Saturday.

Ancient species lives at depths of 200 to 800 metres, where key commercial fishing species are found

Species as old as the dinosaurs are swimming around in tropical waters at depths accessed by commercial fishermen, according to a world-first study conducted by Australian researchers.

The study, published in the journal Nature on Thursday, examined data on brittle sea stars pulled from 1,500 research voyages in the southern hemisphere from the equator to Antarctica.

My father, Peter Le Mare, who has died aged 95, was a soil scientist, woodworker, yoghurt maker, occasional needleworker, environmentalist and all-round good egg.

He worked on the Tanganyika groundnut scheme at Kongwa (now in Tanzania) in the 1940s, initially living and working in tents until houses were built.

Experts say some members of ‘enormously important’ myrtle family could be extinct within five years, with others to follow

Australia must roll out an emergency national response to an invasive plant disease that is rapidly pushing at least four plant species to imminent extinction, experts have told Guardian Australia.

A draft emergency action plan for the fungal disease myrtle rust proposes that a rapid collection of seeds and plant material needs to be mobilised before several species disappear altogether.

My colleague John Lanchbery, who has died suddenly of sepsis aged 71, was a physicist and climate change expert.

A veteran of international climate change negotiations, John attended the Rio Earth summit in 1992, and every UN summit on climate change since, representing the RSPB and BirdLife International since 1998.

Activists want 5% of transport spending to go on active travel, as happens in Scotland

It is possible a million or more people have cycled past the Houses of Parliament in the past 12 months, but you could be forgiven for thinking this has gone unnoticed by those on the other side of the black railings.

On Wednesday, as the cycle superhighway through Parliament Square whisked commuters to work, inside, the transport select committee heard the government would miss its cycling target. It is predicted to achieve just a third of the 800m hoped-for extra cycling trips by 2025, with much of that predicted growth restricted to London.

Five mayors warn their towns could run out of water within weeks and call for their needs to be prioritised over irrigators

The mayors of several western New South Wales councils have warned their townships face major water crises within weeks and have urged the state government to impose a one-month embargo on irrigators pumping from the upper part of the Darling River system.

Subsidies for coal, oil and gas are not falling despite EU pledges to tackle climate change

The UK leads the European Union in giving subsidies to fossil fuels, according to a report from the European commission. It found €12bn (£10.5bn) a year in support for fossil fuels in the UK, significantly more than the €8.3bn spent on renewable energy.

The commission report warned that the total subsidies for coal, oil and gas across the EU remained at the same level as 2008. This is despite both the EU and G20 having long pledged to phase out the subsidies, which hamper the rapid transition to clean energy needed to fight climate change.

The violent Manaro Voui volcano forced the people of Vanuatu’s Ambae island to flee their home numerous times over the last year. After living in makeshift camps on surrounding islands, the displaced residents are now anxious to return to their ash-covered homes, even if the danger has not yet passed

Sir David Attenborough has urged world leaders to treat the natural world with respect. During an interview by Prince William at the World Economic Forum in Switzerland, he was asked why those in key positions had taken so long to address climate change. The 92-year-old broadcaster said the connection between the natural world and urban societies had been ‘remote and widening’ since the industrial revolution. Humans did not realise the effect their actions have on the global ecosystem, he said, but it was ‘difficult to overstate’ the urgency of the environmental crisis.

David Attenborough and Prince William take world leaders to task on environment

Thinktank says not enough is being done to cut coal burning and end fossil fuel subsidies

Removing coal from the global energy mix is taking too long, too many forests are still being destroyed, and fossil fuel subsidies are ongoing despite their distorting effect on the market, a study has found.

There has also been insufficient progress in agriculture to stop harmful practices that increase carbon dioxide production, and heavy industry is not doing enough to use energy more efficiently, according to analysis carried out by the World Resources Institute thinktank.

Total of 72% polled now say global warming is personally important to them, Yale said, as 73% accept it is happening

Americans’ concerns about climate change have surged to record levels, new polling shows, following a year marked by devastating storms, wildfires and increasingly dire warnings from scientists.

Related: Greenland's ice melting faster than scientists previously thought – study

Davos 2019: broadcaster tells prince that humans have power to exterminate whole ecosystems ‘without even noticing’

Sir David Attenborough has warned that humankind has the power to exterminate whole ecosystems “without even noticing”, and urged world leaders to treat the natural world with respect, during an interview with Prince William in Davos.

Prince William also took world leaders to task at the World Economic Forum in Switzerland, asking Attenborough why those in key positions have “taken so long” to address climate change.

Politicians face repeated calls to reduce emissions and stop land clearing, but there isn’t much public pressure for better biosecurity

In November 2018 the owners of the huge Ocean Monarch oil rig, towed into Hobart waters for maintenance, refused to let the Tasmanian Environment Protection Authority (EPA) inspect the hull for marine pests. One of the EPA’s concerns was a foreign sea squirt that had appeared in Western Australia in 2010, invading seagrass meadows in Perth’s Swan River.

In January the rig’s owners, Diamond Offshore, said they would inspect the rig themselves and submit their findings. The EPA’s impotence in this incident prompted calls for reform of biosecurity laws.