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Santa Marta conference born out of frustration at Cop summits, where renewable progress has been stalled by major polluters
Everybody knows fossil fuels cause climate breakdown, but until recently, mention of them was all but erased from the annual UN climate summits. Last year, two weeks of discussions ended without fossil fuels being mentioned in the final outcome.
Frustration with those talks led a small developing country with a large fossil fuel sector – Colombia, the largest coal and fourth biggest oil exporter in the Americas – to rewrite the rules. With co-convener the Netherlands, and support from more than 50 countries, Colombia will host a groundbreaking new global conference this month to begin the long-awaited “transition away from fossil fuels”.
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Scientists say finding is ‘very concerning’ as collapse would be catastrophic for Europe, Africa and the Americas
The critical Atlantic current system appears significantly more likely to collapse than previously thought after new research found that climate models predicting the biggest slowdown are the most realistic. Scientists called the new finding “very concerning” as a collapse would have catastrophic consequences for Europe, Africa and the Americas.
The Atlantic meridional overturning circulation (Amoc) is a major part of the global climate system and was already known to be at its weakest for 1,600 years as a result of the climate crisis. Scientists spotted warning signs of a tipping point in 2021 and know that the Amoc has collapsed in the Earth’s past.
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Exclusive: Experts say scheme will help repair damaged marine ecosystems while sequestering large amounts of carbon
More than 15m juvenile oysters are to be released into the North Sea in one of the biggest rewilding projects in UK waters.
The scheme, which will use a unique rearing process, hopes to re-establish a huge oyster bed around Orkney that experts say will create a “trophic cascade” of climate and ecological benefits.
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At 1.5C of global warming, up to 90% of coral reefs could be lost. The next few months could be a defining moment
Where I come from – Hawai’i – the reef isn’t just something you look at. It’s part of us. It feeds our families, protects our shores, and lives at the center of our culture. In our stories, coral is one of our oldest ancestors. It’s a reminder that everything in the ocean, and all of us, are connected.
Right now, that integral connection is under threat.
Jason Momoa is an actor, film-maker, and UNEP Advocate for Life Below Water, dedicated to protecting our oceans and advancing global awareness around coral reef conservation
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Pollution is ‘silent accelerator that robs individuals of their healthiest years’, say researchers
Research reveals air pollution is advancing the average age that people in the UK acquire long-term illnesses. For some conditions people could be getting ill more than two years earlier because of the air pollution they breathe.
The first author of the research from Prof Hualiang Lin’s group at Sun Yat-sen University said: “Our study demonstrates that air pollution is not just a risk factor for falling ill; it acts as a silent accelerator that robs individuals of their healthiest years.”
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Legally questionable confidentiality clause adopted almost word for word from demands of Microsoft and trade groups
Microsoft and other US tech companies successfully lobbied the EU to hide the environmental toll of their datacentres, an investigation has found, with demands to block a database of green metrics from public view written almost word for word into EU rules.
The secrecy provision, which the European Commission added to its proposal almost verbatim after industry lobbying in 2024, hinders scrutiny of the pollution that individual datacentres emit. It leaves researchers with just national-level summaries of their energy footprints.
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Lower Botanic Gardens, Belfast:A precious field here provides flood protection and carbon research, and has a productive community garden. Still, it is in jeopardy
Among many languages on the poster at the field’s entrance gate is a declaration in Ulster-Scots: This be oor fiel. Close to my home in the heart of an urban landscape, “our field” in Lower Botanic Gardens invites my idle wandering.
Going by the desire paths that crisscross its floodplain meadow, I follow in many footsteps. Recently rewilded and recultivated for a new age, this council-owned field has always responded to the needs of the times. The field grew vegetables during the second world war, and grew families in prefabricated housing after that war ended. Today, in subtle and transformative ways, this cherished place still provides for and protects local people.
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Local governments have until 1 July next year to introduce a four-bin recycling system, but some councils – and waste experts – say it’s unnecessary
When Victoria embarked on its four-bin system for household waste back in 2020, the goal was to position the state as a leader in recycling.
The rollout of a purple-lidded bin for glass – a fourth bin alongside organics, recycling and rubbish – would be a “gamechanging” way to keep glass and other valuable resources out of landfill, then environment minister Lily D’Ambrosio said.
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From rainwater harvesting to tree nurseries, communities in Medellín are taking steps to increase their landslide and flooding resilience
In his home on a steep hillside in the neighbourhood of Golondrinas in Medellín, Róbinson Velásquez Cartagena stands proudly next to two large tanks of water – a rainwater harvesting system he designed and built to help reduce the risk of flooding and landslides.
It is one of the nature-based solutions that Velásquez and others in the community have proposed as part of a disaster risk and climate crisis adaptation plan for Comuna 8, a growing informal settlement of 150,000 people in Colombia’s second-largest city.
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Seven deaths and 15 injuries have been recorded in the past year as crocodiles move their habitats closer to human settlements
• Warning: contains graphic descriptions of crocodile attacks
Ng’ikalei Loito was walking out of the warm waters of Lake Turkana on a sunny afternoon, having just finished swimming with her two sisters-in-law, when she suddenly felt the crushing force of a crocodile’s bite on her legs.
In excruciating pain, she instinctively clung to a partially submerged tree that was within reach and screamed for help, as the crocodile tried to drag her under the water.
Ng’ikalei Loito sits on her tricycle outside her house in Kalokol town in Turkana
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