Grassland for rearing livestock faces largest reduction as part of effort to cut meat consumption
Farmland in England will be reduced by more than 10% by 2050 under government plans, with less meat produced and eaten by the country’s citizens.
The environment secretary, Steve Reed, on Friday launched the government’s blueprint for land use change to balance the need to build infrastructure and meet nature and carbon targets.
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Breaking Waves: Ocean News
01/31/2025 - 09:08
01/31/2025 - 09:00
Exclusive: Labour and Green MPs write to regulator’s chief executive voicing fears about an expensive public bailout
A group of 30 Labour and Green MPs have written to Ofwat to demand that Thames Water is taken into special measures.
In an open letter to David Black, the chief executive of the regulator, the MPs expressed fears of an expensive public bailout and demanded that Thames Water be placed into the special administration regime (SAR) and restructured under public oversight.
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01/31/2025 - 09:00
Exclusive: Documents seen by Guardian Australia show a sustained strategy approved by environment minister Tanya Plibersek
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The Australian government carried out an international lobbying campaign to keep the Great Barrier Reef off a list of world heritage sites in danger, including dispatching politicians and officials to Unesco’s Paris headquarters and asking diplomats to gather intelligence on countries that could influence the decision.
The campaign is revealed in documents released to the Greens after a parliamentary request and show how Australia sought to influence Unesco and members of the 21-country world heritage committee in the lead up to a crunch meeting in July last year.
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01/31/2025 - 08:00
The industry ties and policy backgrounds of these officials and cabinet nominees are varied – and often contradictory
Trump plots healthier America but deregulation likely to feature on menu
As Donald Trump returns to the White House, food and agriculture policy are shaping up to be key pieces of his agenda. To start to understand how he might tackle these issues, we’re digging into the industry ties and policy backgrounds of his senior officials and nominated cabinet members, who have varied – and often contradictory – positions on food and agriculture. The way they handle immigration, labor, environmental regulations and the social safety net will shape how Americans eat for the next four years.
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01/31/2025 - 08:00
Preliminary research provides rare insight in to the reptile’s habits and movement across urban landscapes
New research has revealed surprising details about the secret lives of crocodiles swimming through Florida’s waterways, including the long distances some travel in search of food and shelter, and their ability to slither unnoticed through populous neighborhoods.
The preliminary study provides rare insight into the habits and habitat of the species in a state more commonly associated with its estimated 1.5 million alligators. Florida has a non-hatchling population of about only 2,000 American crocodiles, the researchers say, which made it difficult initially to find and tag a sufficient number of the reptiles in urban areas in order to observe them.
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01/31/2025 - 08:00
President’s cabinet picks suggest help for big companies and regulatory rollbacks will take precedence in food policy
Trump will change the face of US food policy. These are the players to watch
When Robert F Kennedy Jr. suspended his campaign for the presidency in August 2024, throwing his support behind Donald Trump, he promised to continue fighting to “make America healthy again”. Kennedy’s criticism of ultra-processed foods and big food companies became a central feature of the Trump campaign. And after Trump was elected, he nominated Kennedy to be his secretary of health and human services.
Yet, just days before naming Kennedy, Trump nominated another senior official to his administration: Susie Wiles, a longtime lobbyist whose clients have included the same big food companies Kennedy has critiqued for their role in pushing ultra-processed foods into kitchens and grocery stores across the US. The two stood in stark contrast: a critic and a lobbyist for the food industry standing side-by-side the president-elect.
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01/31/2025 - 07:00
Agreement between farmers, politicians and environmental groups led to a €170m action fund for plant based food
“Plant-based foods are the future.” That is not a statement you would expect from a right-wing farming minister in a major meat-producing nation. Denmark produces more meat per capita than any other country in the world, with its 6 million people far outnumbered by its 30 million pigs, and it has a big dairy industry too. Yet this is how Jacob Jensen, from the Liberal party, introduced the nation’s world-first action plan for plant-based foods.
“If we want to reduce the climate footprint within the agricultural sector, then we all have to eat more plant-based foods,” he said at the plan’s launch in October 2023, and since then the scheme has gone from strength to strength. Backed by a €170m government fund, it is now supporting plant-based food from farm to fork, from making tempeh from broad beans and a chicken substitute from fungi to on-site tastings at kebab and burger shops and the first vegan chef degree.
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01/31/2025 - 03:00
The decision to expand Heathrow is just the latest evidence that my party is chasing policies that serve profit, not people
Chancellor Rachel Reeves’s recent “big growth agenda” speech wasn’t just the expression of a vision for the economy. It was also a warning shot to wavering Labour MPs. The message was blunt: get on board with the government’s economic strategy or step aside. Growth, we were told, is the non-negotiable mission.
This was not a sudden shift but a reaffirmation of her stance at Davos, where she made clear that “the answer can’t always be no”. That answer, now firmly codified, prioritises GDP growth above all else. Heathrow airport expansion is in; net zero, bats and newts are out. The promise? A revitalised economy, busy high streets and more bobbies on the beat – a Labour-friendly vision of progress designed to bolster morale and stuff leaflets with “good news” ahead of the next election.
Clive Lewis is the Labour MP for Norwich South
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01/31/2025 - 03:00
The best of this week’s wildlife photographs from around the world
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01/31/2025 - 01:00
Minister to announce consultation that will exclude certain areas from housing, solar panels and onshore wind
Valuable farmland will be protected from housing, solar panels and onshore wind under a new land use framework, the government has announced.
The environment secretary, Steve Reed, will announce a consultation into how the limited land in England should be used and where is best to farm, restore nature or build infrastructure.
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