Evolution may be a brilliant model by which to explain the diversity of the natural world, but it doesn't contain the slightest hint as to how human beings should act towards that world
As the melting Arctic ice cap opens a new ocean to the world, governments and private speculators are rushing to cash in on lucrative resource deposits and shipping lanes. But they may find these virgin waters a dangerous place to do business…
It's the logo we all look for when buying furniture and wood products. But the Forest Stewardship Council has come in for some serious criticism. Matilda Lee looks at both sides of the argument
On the one side stand half a million poor farmers, desperate to find land for more crops. On the other, a patch of once-extensive forest that is the area's ecological lynchpin. In between, one woman
More sites may be added to the UNESCO List of World Heritage Sites in Danger this week, but how effective is this register of global hot spots, and what are the areas that truly deserve international protection?
Plans to bulldoze an Indian mountain sacred to local people were controversial enough... before shareholder data revealed that a raft of UK household names, ranging from Jaguar cars to the Church of England, own shares in the company behind the mine, Vedanta Resources plc
The first great bustards born in the wild in the UK since 1832 hatched last week. The reintroduction of this and many other species is invigorating the countryside, but eradicating foreign invaders - animals and plants - is equally important
The mountaineers who come to conquer Everest mistake their achievement – in the quest to overcome nature’s ultimate natural obstacle, humans have already won
How much rainforest does it take for one celebrity to snort another one under the table? Nick Kettles investigates the devastating environmental impact of cocaine use.
With global warming putting pressure on animals and biodiversity in the tropics, is it time we had a new poster child for climate change, asks William Laurance
‘The planet is currently enslaved to humans abusing its inherent rights – the right not to be enslaved or polluted,’ says environmentalist and barrister Polly Higgins.
There are few things more awe-inspiring in nature than the massing in vast numbers of a single species of animal. To explain why the phenomenon is so thrilling requires an understanding of why and how it happens in the first place
The environmental disaster that put paid to China's intensive logging spawned an illegal trade in timber that risks global erosion. In their rush to feed the dragon, loggers on both sides of the law can't see the trees for the wood, says Steve Kemper
Consuming endangered wildlife is illegal in China, but it continues on a large scale in the country’s south. Walter Parham reports on a habit that locals just cannot kick – even after the SARS crisis.
A decision to allow the destruction of an ancient woodland suggests the UK’s environmental policies are crumbling at the first hint of oil, says Sarah Lewis
Are they environmental doom-mongering, journalistic hype or the straw that breaks the camel's back? William Laurance examines the complexities of tipping points - those small changes in a natural system that can sometimes provoke sudden and irrevocable collapse
Can traditional water-harvesting systems teach us how to solve contemporary water problems? Michael Kenneth Cowan says we have a lot to learn from the ancient and troubled ecology of the Middle East
Prince Charles has called UK peatlands ‘Britain’s tropical rainforests’ – and like rainforests worldwide, ours are in decline. Trevor Critchley reports on the devastating consequences for global warming
