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Researchers say loss of 1.9m square kilometres of intact ecosystems will have ‘profound implications’ for biodiversity
Wilderness across the planet is disappearing on a huge scale, according to a new study that found human activities had converted an area the size of Mexico from virtually intact natural landscapes to heavily modified ones in just 13 years.
The loss of 1.9m square kilometres (735,000 sq miles) of intact ecosystems would have “profound implications” for the planet’s biodiversity, the study’s authors said.
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I understand the temptation to feel that what is wrong now will be wrong forever. But anguish and hope can coexist
If you’re heartsore at the quadruple crisis of the mismanaged pandemic, the resultant financial catastrophe grinding down so many people, the climate chaos dramatically evident in unprecedented fires in the west, hurricanes in the southeast, and melting ice in Greenland and the poles, and the corruption, human rights abuses, and creeping authoritarianism of the current regime, you’re not alone.
Related:Wealth of US billionaires rises by nearly a third during pandemic
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Glen Feshie, Cairngorms:These trees are the remnants of a coniferous rainforest that spread across Britain after the last ice age
Light brightens the tent and nudges me out of sleep. Dawn must have arrived. I open my eyes, expecting morning light, but instead see soft silver shapes flickering across the tent fabric – moonbeams, diffused through the swaying limbs of the huge Scots pine (Pinus sylvestris) under which my tent is pitched.
My watch says 3.34am. I unzip the door of the tent and look outside. The previous day was overcast, but the weather is restless and squally, and the wind has torn open a rift in the clouds. The moon is startling in its unsullied brightness. Metallic light plays across the dark forest. Blaeberry and heather bushes, wet with rain, gleam in the lunar glow. Moonlit scraps of cloud drift across the sky like smoke.
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The best wildlife pictures from around the world, from golden frogs to homebound birds
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For decades David Attenborough delighted millions with tales of life on Earth. But now the broadcaster wants us to face up to the state of the planet
Sir David Attenborough’s soothing, matter-of-fact narrations have brought the natural world to our living rooms for nearly seven decades and counting. From Australia’s Great Barrier Reef to the jungles of central Africa, the 94-year-old broadcaster has dazzled and delighted millions with tales of life on Earth – mostly pristine and untouched, according to the images on our screens. But this autumn Attenborough has returned with a different message: nature is collapsing around us.
“We are facing a crisis. One that has consequences for us all. It threatens our ability to feed ourselves, to control our climate. It even puts us at greater risk of pandemic diseases such as Covid-19,” he warned in Extinction: The Facts on BBC One primetime, receiving five-star reviews.
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Wild Justice accuses UK government of breaching duty to protect conservation sites
Conservationists are suing the UK government over the release of millions of game birds on to land that is home to rare and threatened species.
The campaign group Wild Justice has accused ministers of breaching their legal duties to protect sites of high conservation value in England by failing to control the use of large areas of countryside to shoot pheasant and red-legged partridge for sport.
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Beach clean organiser wants to assess amount of masks and gloves discarded during coronavirus crisis
Volunteers in this year’s Great British Beach Clean are being asked to record the personal protective equipment (PPE) they find, to get a clearer picture of the volume of plastic masks and gloves discarded during the coronavirus pandemic and their impact on the environment.
The Marine Conservation Society (MCS), which organises the annual September event, is urging people to organise their own surveys with smaller groups of friends, family and “bubbles”, in line with government guidance.
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About 40% of the Tiehm’s buckwheat population destroyed, amid fierce dispute over proposed lithium and boron mine nearby
Nestled among the slopes of Nevada’s Silver Peak Range are six patches of Tiehm’s buckwheat, a rare flowering plant found nowhere else in the world. Only an estimated 42,000 plants remain on 10 acres. But over the weekend, conservationists discovered that 40% of the total population had been destroyed.
Related:Chinese fishing armada plundered waters around Galápagos, data shows
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Data reveals just 14% of good ecological standard and none of good chemical standard
All English rivers have failed to meet quality tests for pollution amid concerns over the scale of sewage discharges and agricultural and industrial chemicals entering the water system.
Data published on Thursday reveals just 14% of English rivers are of good ecological standard, a rating that suggests they are as close to their natural state as possible.
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Hundreds of vessels caught logging 73,000 hours of fishing in just one month in new analysis
A vast fishing armada of Chinese vessels just off the Galápagos Islands logged an astounding 73,000 hours of fishing during just one month as it pulled up thousands of tonnes of squid and fish, a new report based on data analysis has found.
The discovery of the giant flotilla off the archipelago that inspired Charles Darwin’s theory of evolution stirred controversy and outrage in Ecuador and abroad.
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