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The conservation group WWF is warning that koalas could be wiped out in some Australian states amid deforestation and increasing attacks by livestock.

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.

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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.

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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.

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Australians should be deeply concerned about the signals coming from the Turnbull government since this month’s release of Chief Scientist Alan Finkel’s landmark report on the future of Australia’s electricity system.

On Tuesday the government announced a new package of policies for the electricity sector. This includes asking the Australian Energy Market Operator (AEMO) to look at “how to ensure that new continuous dispatchable power is provided, including what support is needed to promote new investment”.

Effectively, the government is asking AEMO to identify whether Australia has enough “baseload” generation and, if not, how the government should go about getting more.

In simple terms this marks a further reversion to central planning, either purposely by stealth, or accidentally through ignorance. The rushed nature of the announcement, without any forewarning, suggests the latter.

Going to plan?

Central planning can provide politicians with the illusion of certainty and control. When governments don’t see the outcomes they want in the market – in this case reliable and affordable energy (and, for some politicians, new coal-fired power stations) – taking command offers them the opportunity to deliver those outcomes.

But this presumes that governments know better than the market. History tells us they don’t. The result is often expensive and excessive building of new generation that does not guarantee reliable supply.

Some see this policy as the government walking away from its obligation to reduce emissions in the electricity sector. Others believe it signals success for the Minerals Council Australia (MCA) in its push to have the government build new coal-fired power stations.

The MCA has reportedly urged the cabinet to embrace a “reverse auction” scheme instead of the Clean Energy Target (CET) recommended by Finkel. Under a reverse auction scheme, the government would tender for new electricity generation. The lowest bid wins, and the winning bidder would receive a contract guaranteeing revenue for the electricity it generates.

Certainly, if the government were to choose a mechanism to procure new electricity generation, reverse auctions look like the obvious policy. Such auctions are common; indeed, the federal government already uses them to buy emissions reductions from a range of economic sectors under the Emissions Reduction Fund. The ACT government also uses them to procure large-scale renewable energy.

But reverse auctions are generally not used as a central climate change policy. Instead, they operate alongside emissions-reduction polices to encourage the development of specific types of generation technologies. In Germany, for example, reverse auctions are being used to incentivise new wind generation. The MCA will doubtless be hoping that the auctions specifically call for new, cleaner coal technologies.

Let’s be clear. The government’s announcement does not go as far as the MCA’s proposal. AEMO appears to have the responsibility for determining whether and how new electricity generation will be bought to market, and the government has not rejected Finkel’s CET proposal.

But nor is the announcement simply the government pressing forward with the “strategic reserve” suggested by Finkel. A strategic reserve is an insurance policy, ensuring enough backup generation is available in case something goes wrong in the market. Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull’s announcement on Tuesday indicates that new generation will not simply be built as backup, but will play an active role in the market. After all, baseload generation is useless if it sits there and does nothing.

Proceed with caution

There are numerous reasons to be concerned about this announcement. It is not clear how such a proposal would work with any emissions-reduction scheme such as a CET. Providing simultaneous incentives for low-emissions generation through a CET and for “baseload” generation through a separate scheme sounds like a recipe for an expensive, unreliable system. And it would make meeting Australia’s emissions targets more complex.

Nor is it clear that Australia even needs more “baseload” generation at the moment. Signals in the electricity market suggest that if Australia needs anything it is flexible generation that can respond to sudden changes in demand and supply. This is not coal; it is gas, or perhaps battery storage.

Most of all, the announcement follows a broader trend of increasing government involvement in the electricity market. Whether it is the Commonwealth with its proposed Snowy 2.0 scheme, South Australia’s plan to build a state-owned gas power station, or Queensland’s manipulation of wholesale prices, electricity is now government business.

Anyone who thought the Finkel Review might bring some much-needed policy certainty to the electricity market is being rapidly disabused of that idea. Instead of fostering investor confidence, the government has just telegraphed the fact that it is prepared to intervene directly in the market. Any risk-averse investor will run away as fast as they can.

Once government starts intervening in the market, it will have to keep doing so. If you listen closely, you can hear the sound of two decades of market primacy in the electricity sector being flushed down the toilet.

David Blowers does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond the academic appointment above.

Tritium partners with Stromnetz Hamburg GmbH to adapt its fast charger for Hamburg’s inner-city environment.

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.

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Queensland University of Technology will work with the University of Nevada to collaborate on driverless vehicle technology.

Australia's only geothermal power supply is to finally get its long awaited upgrade.

Climate risks are either not understood or wilfully ignored at leadership level in Australia, a profound failure of imagination, and far worse than that which triggered the GFC in 2008.

Text used for preparation for citizenship test looks like marketing material for the coal lobby.

In a sign of just how hot things are getting, American Airlines cancelled 50 flights out of Phoenix because the planes can’t operate above 118°F.

New report finds that $2.3 trillion worth of projects are inconsistent with goals and objectives of limiting global warming to 2⁰C.

State Grid Corporation of China is conducting a trial to supply all of Qinghai Province with hydro, wind and solar only for 7 consecutive days

New solar plant in Queensland will be built at less than half the cost modelled in the Finkel Review, and give a payback to investors in less than 5 years. Small is beautiful for large scale solar.

Many in financial and corporates sectors remain unaware of importance of 1.5°C target, or can't gauge its relevance and apply it to business and investment.

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”.

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It is not so much the technology but eemissions regulation that matters most: Whether a plant is ultra-supercritical or not matters little, except to profits.

World-first climate and health framework from 30 health and medical groups calls for recognition of citizens’ ‘right to health’

To save hundreds of lives and billions of dollars, Australia should rapidly phase out coal power stations and establish strong emissions reduction targets, according to a coalition of 30 major health and medical groups.

Related: Australia warned it has radically underestimated climate change security threat

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Could an effort to gather genetic data from its population of one billion people help India take the lead in advanced healthcare?