Seagrass planting robot to reinstate vanishing ocean meadows and tackle climate change
A team of young engineers is launching a £100,000 project to build a robot that will plant seagrass to help fight climate change, thanks...
Emergency authorisation of bee-killing pesticide is a “deathblow” says charity group
(Text: The Wildlife Trusts)
On 18th January 2024, the UK Government’s Farming Minister, Mark Spencer, approved ‘emergency’ authorisation for the use of the highly damaging...
What happens to biodegradable plastics if they enter the sea? New study
Plymouth Marine Laboratory writes
Our new study investigates what happens when biodegradable plastics enter the ocean, and whether these increasingly popular alternatives to conventional plastics...
Increasing number of local authorities require over 10% Biodiversity Net Gain
In advance of the statutory requirement for biodiversity net gain (BNG) for new developments from January 2024, new research appears to reveal a gradual...
Accounting for plastic persistence can minimize environmental impacts
Researchers have developed a sustainability metric for the ecological design of plastic products that have low persistence in the environment.
Adhering to this metric could...
Is it time to declare a ‘lunar Anthropocene’?
Such status would heighten awareness of potential environmental problems, and advance efforts to mitigate the deleterious human impacts and growing presence of waste from...
New report highlights role of ecoacoustics in monitoring wildlife
A new report seems to reveal that Ecoacoustic Bird Survey (EBS) methods increase the detection of bird species, and should be used in combination...
Housing crisis poses threat to survival of rural communities, CPRE report warns
An acute and overlooked shortage of genuinely affordable housing poses a threat to the survival of communities in rural England, says a report published...
Nature critical to infrastructure for sustainable development: UN report
Nature-based infrastructure solutions can influence 79% of all targets across the Sustainable Development Goals, highlighting the critical role nature can play in advancing sustainable...
Aquaculture system turns waste wood into nutritious seafood
Researchers hoping to rebrand a marine pest as a nutritious food have developed the world’s first system of farming shipworms, which they have renamed...
Rare leech recorded in Dumfries and Galloway
One of the rarest invertebrates in Scotland, the Medicinal Leech (Hirudo medicinalis), has been confirmed in Dumfries and Galloway for the first time, after...
Biodiversity benefits of rewilding to be “irrefutably demonstrated” by ag-tech AI partnership
Launching at a time when prominent Royals have just been widely reported expressing opinions on what they see as negative impacts of rewilding, a...
Bees cannot taste even lethal levels of pesticides, says new study
New research from the University of Oxford appears to reveal that bumblebees cannot taste pesticides present in nectar, even at lethal concentrations. This means...
Fish eDNA project highlights promise of environmental survey work at offshore wind farms
A new report validates the use of fish environmental DNA (eDNA) survey methods, declaring that they could transform the way fish ecology surveys are...
Prototype system sniffs out soil health with results in five minutes
An electronic nose to sniff out soil health that will deliver results to a farmer’s phone in five minutes is being developed by PES...
Diverse forests hold huge carbon potential, as long as we cut emissions
New study estimates that natural forest recovery could capture approximately 226 Gigatonnes (Gt) of carbon, but only if we also reduce greenhouse gas emissions....
Scientists caution against a reliance on mechanical devices to clear water bodies of plastic
An international group of scientists has cautioned against reliance on mechanical cleanup devices as a means of addressing the plastic pollution crisis.
The researchers –...
Review finds half of Britain’s “crown jewels of nature” at risk of extinction
A new report by conservation charity Buglife appears to find that half of the UK’s most special species are at risk of global extinction....
Nature charities publish market principles in bid to combat greenwashing
The Wildlife Trusts, RSPB, Woodland Trust and National Trust have published a set of principles “for ensuring ‘nature markets’ truly deliver for nature, climate...
New AI algorithm will hopefully save ‘hopping’ bee from extinction
A project to protect a unique ‘hopping’ bee from extinction is underway in Yorkshire. The species in question has declined in number by more than...
