The Guardian
Banks can help to protect world heritage sites | Letters
Even protected Unesco world heritage sites – some of the most incredible places on earth – are threatened by decisions being made by banks (Report, 22 June). Almost half of those listed for their natural values are threatened by harmful industrial practices such as oil and gas exploration and mining. Banks lend to companies that have the potential to cause irreversible damage to these sites and this could be avoided if they had the right policies and implementation procedures in place. Our report details the steps banks can take to safeguard these areas. World Heritage sites are home to some of the planet’s most endangered species, and they are relied upon by local communities. We need to be doing everything we can to protect them.
Chris Gee
Head of campaigns, WWF-UK
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Continue reading...Sadiq Khan: Gove must get a grip on 'life and death' air pollution crisis
Mayor of London wants urgent meeting with new environment secretary to press for action on toxic air quality
The mayor of London, Sadiq Khan, has requested an urgent meeting with the new environment secretary, Michael Gove, to urge him to get a grip on Britain’s “life and death” air pollution crisis.
This week, Khan activated the capital’s emergency alert system after experts warned toxic air in the capital had reached dangerous levels. Large parts of southern England and Wales were also affected on Wednesday.
Continue reading...The week in wildlife – in pictures
Bison, bluebells, bumble bees and beavers are among this week’s pick of images from the natural world
Continue reading...From heatwaves to hurricanes, floods to famine: seven climate change hotspots
Global warming will not affect everyone equally. Here we look at seven key regions to see how each is tackling the consequences of climate change
It could have been the edge of the Sahara or even Death Valley, but it was the remains of a large orchard in the hills above the city of Murcia in southern Spain last year. The soil had broken down into fine white, lifeless sand, and a landscape of rock and dying orange and lemon trees stretched into the distance.
A long drought, the second in a few years, had devastated the harvest after city authorities had restricted water supplies and farmers were protesting in the street. It was a foretaste of what may happen if temperatures in the Mediterranean basin continue to rise and desertification grows.
Continue reading...Latest diesel car models remain highly polluting, tests show
Six new vehicles including Land Rover and Suzuki are adding to air pollution crisis, despite stricter rules coming in months
The latest diesel car models are failing to meet pollution limits when on the road, just three months ahead of stricter new tests, independent tests have found. Results show that none of six new 2017 diesel cars met the EU standard for toxic nitrogen oxides (NOx) pollution in real-world driving.
The updated Equa Index, produced by the testing firm Emissions Analytics, shows that 86% of all diesel models put on to the British market since the 2015 Volkswagen emissions scandal failed to meet the official limit on the road, with 15% producing at least eight times more NOx emissions.
Continue reading...Exxon, Stephen Hawking, greens, and Reagan’s advisors agree on a carbon tax | Dana Nuccitelli
Nearly everyone other than science-denying Republican Party leaders understands the importance of a carbon pollution tax
What do ExxonMobil, Stephen Hawking, the Nature Conservancy, and Ronald Reagan’s Secretary of Treasury and Chief of Staff have in common? All have signed on as founding members to the Climate Leadership Council, which has met with the White House to propose a revenue-neutral carbon tax policy.
The group started with impeccable conservative credentials, bringing on cabinet members from the last three Republican presidential administrations (Ronald Reagan, George HW Bush, and George W Bush): two former Secretaries of State, two former Secretaries of Treasury, and two former chairmen of the President’s Council of Economic Advisors. It was founded by Ted Halstead, who explained the group’s proposed policy in a TED talk:
Continue reading...The long-jump prize goes to … the froghopper
Fermyn Woods, Northamptonshire Hard to spot, sitting still under a leaf, these bugs on the move are jumping champions
As the morning sun heats the still woodland air the rides fizz with the sounds of flying insects: bumblebees buzz between bramble blossom and clover heads, a myriad of small flies zips through the air, and longhorn beetles whir and clatter around the dog roses.
Each species has its own habits and lifecycle that together constitute the intricate web of life in this ancient wood.
Continue reading...First flush of summer as swallows close loos | Letters
In light of the negotiating skills shown by the DUP in securing a very favourable outcome for Northern Ireland in the ongoing “confidence and supply” talks (Report, 22 May), should the Tories not send the DUP to Europe for the Brexit talks instead of their current team. They might fare a lot better.
Fiona Doherty
Bray, Co Wicklow, Ireland
• Thanks to Lucy Mangan for revealing that not only did Brian Cant appear to be a good guy, he really was one (Mr Play School, G2, 21 June). A terrifying memory from my daughter’s childhood was when she disappeared among the sand dunes. I commandeered a search party from local students and one shouted at me: “I’m not sure if it’s her, but it could be. She says her name’s Cuthbert.” Thanks to Brian Cant we all burst out laughing and nobody got a severe talking-to.
Margaret Squires
St Andrew, Fife
Drew Hutton, how he galvanised the Greens and his unlikely alliance with Alan Jones
Hutton cited health issues when he announced his decision to quit as president of the anti-mining group Lock the Gate
Drew Hutton, a giant of the Australian environmental movement, has announced his retirement as a leading activist in his 70th year.
Hutton, described by Australian Greens co-founder Bob Brown as the “driving force” for the party’s formation in 1992, cited health issues for his decision to quit last week as president of the anti-mining group Lock the Gate.
Continue reading...Norway issues $1bn threat to Brazil over rising Amazon destruction
Deforestation in the Amazon is increasing amid cuts to protection, putting Norway’s financial aid in jeopardy, says minister
Norway has issued a blunt threat to Brazil that if rising deforestation in the Amazon rainforest is not reversed, its billion-dollar financial assistance will fall to zero. The leaders of the two nations meet in Oslo on Friday.
The oil-rich Scandinavian nation has provided $1.1bn to Brazil’s Amazon fund since 2008, tied to reductions in the rate of deforestation in the world’s greatest rainforest. The destruction of forests by timber and farming industries is a major contributor to the carbon emissions that drive climate change and Norway views protecting the Amazon as vital for the whole world.
Continue reading...Noruega ameaça corte de US$1 bilhão devido a aumento de destruição na Amazônia
O desmatamento na Amazônia vem aumentando em meio a cortes à proteção do meio ambiente, e colocando o apoio financeiro vindo da Noruega em risco, diz ministro
A Noruega fez uma clara ameaça ao Brasil de que caso o crescente índice de desmatamento na Amazônia não seja revertido, a ajuda financeira de um bilhão de dólares vai ser reduzida a zero. Os líderes de ambos países se encontram em Oslo, nesta sexta.
Continue reading...Farms hit by labour shortage as migrant workers shun 'racist' UK
A 20% shortfall in migrant workers relied on to pick fruit and vegetables is blamed on Brexit making the UK seem ‘xenophobic’
Farms have been hit with a shortage of the migrant workers that Britain relies on to bring in the fruit and vegetable harvests, according to a series of new reports.
There was a 17% shortfall in May, leaving some farms critically short of pickers, according to a new National Farmers Union (NFU) survey. The decline is blamed on Brexit, with the vote to depart the EU leaving the UK seen as “xenophobic” and “racist” by overseas workers, according to the director of a major agricultural recruitment company.
Continue reading...David Hoyle obituary
My friend David Hoyle, who has died in a car accident aged 48, was a social scientist who devoted his life to protecting African forests and natural ecosystems for the biodiversity they harbour, for the local people who depend on them, and to secure their vital role in mitigating dangerous climate change. He worked for numerous NGOs, including VSO, WWF, and WCS, which took him to many African countries as a teacher, field project manager and national director.
The second of three children born to Mike Hoyle, a management consultant, and Marion (nee Knight), a housewife, David grew up in Farnham, Surrey, completed school at Lancing college in West Sussex and read geography at Reading University before doing a master’s in natural resource management at Edinburgh.
Continue reading...Great British Bee Count 2017 – in pictures
So far, 15,696 people have taken part in the 2017 Great British Bee Count, recording 288,341 bees, some of which are pictured here. You have eight days left to join this year’s count which will run until 30 June 2017
- Download the free app to monitor and learn about our endangered bee population and get tips for bee-friendly planting
Primeval forest must lose Unesco protection, says Poland
Environment minister Jan Szyszko has called for Białowieża to lose its heritage status, saying it was granted ‘illegally’
Poland’s environment minister, Jan Szyszko, whom green activists have criticised for allowing large-scale logging in the ancient Białowieża forest, has called for the woodland to be stripped of Unesco’s natural heritage status, banning human intervention.
Białowieża, straddling Poland’s eastern border with Belarus, includes one of the largest surviving parts of the primeval forest that covered the European plain 10,000 years ago. It also boasts unique plant and animal life, including the continent’s largest mammal, the European bison.
Continue reading...The world needs wildlife tourism. But that won't work without wildlife
Habitat loss, pollution, climate change, over-exploitation and poaching are all threatening a lifeline for local communities
Wildlife-based tourism is growing rapidly worldwide as the number of tourists continues to grow and as we, as travellers, seek out new and more enriching personal experiences with local cultures and wildlife. This is what inspired me to take six months unpaid leave from the grind of legal practice many years ago and backpack around South America with my little sister. Experiencing the natural beauty of places like the Amazon rainforest, Iguazú Falls and Machu Picchu and the local people fighting to protect them was life-changing.
The UN World Tourism Organisation estimates that 7% of world tourism relates to wildlife tourism, growing annually at about 3%, and much higher in some places, like our Unesco world heritage sites. A WWF report shows that 93% of all natural heritage sites support recreation and tourism and 91% of them provide jobs. In Belize, more than 50% of the population are said to be supported by income generated through reef-related tourism and fisheries.
Continue reading...TfL cycling data analysis: revolutionary or displacement activity?
A data map of 25 London cycling corridors could be crucial for future superhighways, but critics say it’s a distraction from getting the job done
Mike Bloomberg, the former mayor of New York, once said “in God we trust; everyone else bring data”. London has moved towards the mantra of one man who transformed a city for cycling by using a major data analysis to show where cycling routes could be built to get the greatest number of people on to two wheels.
Transport for London (TfL) has taken census data, cycle counts, surveys and data from the city’s hire bikes to identify future urban development and growth hotspots and collision data. They have created a map of 25 corridors across London, along which the greatest number of cycling trips could be generated.
Continue reading...Tories aim to block full EU ban on bee-harming pesticides
Move to block EU ban comes despite environment secretary Michael Gove saying, ‘I don’t want to water down’ EU protections
Conservative politicians are trying to stop a complete EU ban on bee-harming pesticides, despite the new environment secretary Michael Gove’s statement earlier this week, in which he said “I absolutely don’t want to water down” EU environmental protections.
Neonicotinoids are the world’s most widely used insecticides but have been banned on flowering crops in the EU since 2013. However, the European Food Safety Authority (Efsa) found in 2016 that use of the pesticides on all crops poses a high risk to bees. As a result, the European commission has proposed a ban on all uses outside greenhouses, first revealed by the Guardian in March.
Continue reading...Misadventure trims a red admiral's sails
Sandy, Bedfordshire The butterfly rested in the tractor tramline, cryptic wings held erect over its back
The open fields are no place for hot dogs in high summer. At other times dogs scamper along the straight tracks between wheat and barley, sometimes stopping to sniff, squat, or cock a leg, engrossed in a kind of Twitter wee.
But when the sun burns overhead, it toasts cereals and thick coats alike. The dog walkers therefore come early here, and I run earlier still.
Continue reading...Millions of mysterious 'sea pickles' swamp US west coast
Huge and unexplained bloom has fishers racing to save their nets, and scientists hurrying to study the rare animal
A rare, tiny marine creature known as the “unicorn of the sea” has swarmed in its millions on the west coast of America, ruining fishermen’s nets and baffling scientists who are scrambling to find out more about them.
Fishers along the west coast have told researchers that in some places they are unable to catch anything because the pyrosome clusters are so dense and tightly packed. Their hooks, when pulled from the ocean, wriggle with the odd-looking creatures, which are sometimes referred to as “sea pickles” or “fire bodies”.
Continue reading...