The high seas treaty moved \u2018within touching distance\u2019, scientists had a leukaemia breakthrough, and climate solutions were boosted after winning a top award, plus more good news
The high seas treaty moved \u2018within touching distance\u2019, scientists had a leukaemia breakthrough, and climate solutions were boosted after winning a top award, plus more good news<\/p>\n
\u201cFine words\u201d that \u201cmust now translate into action\u201d \u2013 that was Greenpeace\u2019s verdict on the UN Ocean Conference, which wrapped up in Nice last weekend.<\/span> A new drug pathway is \u201ctransforming\u201d the lives of people with leukaemia and could revolutionise how the disease is treated, scientists said this week.<\/span> Ready-to-go climate solutions that put power in the hands of people have been given a boost after scooping top honours at the Ashden Awards.\u00a0<\/span> A people-powered campaign to halt a poultry megafarm that threatened England\u2019s longest river has triumphed in the high court, a move described as a \u201cwin for cleaner rivers\u201d.\u00a0<\/span> A startup that devised a filter to capture microfibres discharged from washing machines has opened a facility to recycle the particles in England.\u00a0<\/span> Celebrities, politicians and regular citizens are backing calls for a polluter tax on fossil fuel companies as a new international survey reveals overwhelming support globally for such a tax.\u00a0<\/span> Cicadas are singing again in England some three decades after they vanished from the New Forest. Efforts to halt the decline of one of Britain\u2019s most elusive and noisiest visiting birds appear to be working.<\/span> Step aside London, back off Bristol, the greenest city in England is \u2026 Reading.\u00a0<\/span> A photo series created by displaced children from Gaza has been released to coincide with Refugee Week.
The summit offered some signs of progress in the race to save our oceans with more nations ratifying a global treaty to protect 30% of the high seas by 2030,\u00a0<\/span>Jamaica, Indonesia and Norway among them. It means that 50 nations have now ratified the treaty \u2013 just shy of the 60 needed to make it law.<\/span> The UK is a notable heel dragger.
\u201cHigh seas treaty ratification is within touching distance,\u201d said Greenpeace\u2019s Megan Randles, adding: \u201cThe UK\u2019s timetable for ratifying the treaty looks glacial.\u201d\u00a0<\/span>
However, Randles welcomed the UK government\u2019s commitment to ban bottom trawling in marine protected areas<\/a>, saying it was \u201cvery good news\u201d for the UK\u2019s sea life.\u00a0<\/span>
Calls to halt deep-sea mining also gained momentum in Nice, with 37 countries supporting a precautionary pause or outright ban. Tom Pickerell of the World Resources Institute said it was \u201ca hopeful sign of political will to protect fragile ecosystems\u201d.\u00a0<\/span>
\u201cThere\u2019s real momentum coming out of Nice\u00a0but also a lot of unfinished business,\u201d he added. \u201cWhile some progress was made, not all governments fully seized it.\u201d<\/span>
Image: Randall Ruiz<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n
The comments came in response to a study that found that a new combination drug therapy significantly outperformed chemotherapy for patients with chronic lymphocytic leukaemia (CLL).\u00a0<\/span>
The FLAIR trial followed 786 people with previously untreated CLL across 96 health centres in the UK. Participants were randomly assigned to receive standard chemotherapy, a single targeted drug \u2013 ibrutinib \u2013 or two targeted drugs taken together, ibrutinib and venetoclax. Doses were guided by personalised blood tests.\u00a0<\/span>
The <\/span>study<\/span><\/a> found that after five years, 94% of patients who received ibrutinib plus venetoclax were alive with no disease progression, compared to 79% for those on ibrutinib alone and 58% for those on standard chemotherapy.\u00a0<\/span>
Dr Talha Munir, consultant haematologist at Leeds Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust, which led the trial, said it was a \u201cmilestone\u201d.\u00a0<\/span>
\u201cWe have shown that a chemotherapy-free approach can be not only more effective but also more tolerable for patients,\u201d he added. \u201cBy tailoring individualised treatment based on how well the cancer responds, we\u2019re moving into an era of truly personalised medicine.\u201d<\/span>
Image: National Cancer Institute<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n
Now in its 25th year, the annual prize identifies equitable solutions to the climate crisis, providing grants and training to winning initiatives to help them scale up.\u00a0<\/span>
The UK produced three of this year\u2019s winners. They are: Repowering London, a social enterprise bringing solar power (and lower bills) to communities in London; Emergent Energy, which helps social housing tenants generate electricity through solar; and Cotality, which helps housing providers improve the energy efficiency of their homes.\u00a0<\/span>
The three non-UK winners are: SELCO, which brings tailored solar solutions to homes and businesses in India<\/a>; BURN, which provides efficient and affordable cookstoves to people in Kenya; and Sosai Renewable Energies, which supports women in Nigeria to become clean energy entrepreneurs.\u00a0<\/span>
\u201cIn a world often clouded by fear and frustration, these inspiring organisations offer bold, practical visions that can unite people across political and cultural divides,\u201d said Dr Ashok Sinha, Ashden\u2019s CEO.\u00a0<\/span>
Image: Afsheen Kabir Rashid, Repowering London’s CEO. Credit: Ashden Awards<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n
Plans for the industrial-scale facility near the River Severn had been waved through by Shropshire council, prompting the charity River Action to take the council to the high court.<\/span>
This week, a judge revoked planning permission for the megafarm, claiming the original approval did not take into account the wider impact it would have on the environment.\u00a0<\/span>
River Action said the ruling \u201cmarks a turning point for polluting factory farming in the UK\u201d.<\/span> The charity\u2019s Emma Dearnaley added: \u201cIt\u2019s a big win for our rivers. The reckless spread of intensive agriculture ends now.\u201d<\/span>
Shropshire council said that it sought advice from Natural England and the Environment Agency before granting permission. <\/span>The high court ruling comes amid a river pollution crisis in England and Wales.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span>
Image: George Standen<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n
The plant in Bude, Cornwall, is thought to be the first of its kind. The Cleaner Seas Group (CSG) behind it estimate that it could turn 86 tonnes of microfibres into useable materials for construction and packaging annually.\u00a0<\/span>
The startup developed a \u00a3130 system that can be fitted to washing machines to filter out the thousands of microfibers discharged during every wash. It launched in 2020. Those who bought one can now send the filters inside off to the facility for the microfibers to be extracted and recycled.\u00a0<\/span>
\u201cMicroplastic pollution is a global crisis hiding in plain sight,\u201d said Dave Miller, chief executive of CSG. \u201cIt\u2019s in our oceans, our food, even our bloodstreams. We\u2019re told it\u2019s too complex to fix \u2013\u00a0we\u2019re proving that\u2019s not true.\u201d<\/span>
Image: Sarah Chai<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n
The poll of more than 15,000 people across 13 nations \u2013 conducted on behalf of Oxfam and Greenpeace – found that 81% of people believe that governments should tax oil, gas and coal corporations for the environmental damage they cause, including wildfires, flooding and drought.<\/span>
Oxfam estimated that such a tax could raise $400bn (298bn) in a year, which it says would cover the estimated annual costs of climate damage in developing nations. In response, Greenpeace launched a Polluters Pay Pact<\/a> calling for such a levy. It has been signed by more than 120,000 people in the UK, including actor and director Peter Capaldi.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span>
\u201cIt\u2019s utter madness that world leaders are scratching their heads about how to pay for the devastation of flooding, wildfires, and typhoons, while the oil and gas corporations \u2013 who are actually to blame for fuelling all this extreme weather \u2013 rake in billions in profits,\u201d he said. <\/span>
\u201cGovernments must get those billions to the communities who need it, and bring in polluter taxes, now.\u201d<\/span>
Image: Arvind Vallabh<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n
The insects disappeared from the Hampshire national park in the 1990s, with changing land usage blamed. However, conservationists have now reintroduced the species to a special site in the New Forest using 11 individuals brought over from France.
\u201cIt\u2019s amazing to see New Forest cicadas in England after all this time,\u201d said Charlotte Carne, project officer at Species Recovery Trust. \u201cIt\u2019s like bringing them back from the dead.\u201d
The reintroduced cicadas are all female, with some believed to be pregnant. Establishing a viable population may take some years yet, but ecologists are confident that following habitat restoration work in the New Forest, it can support the insect again.
Image: Gail Hampshire<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n
Figures released by the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds (RSPB) this week revealed that 211 nightjars were recorded at the charity\u2019s nature reserves in 2024 \u2013 the highest number since records began.\u00a0<\/span>
Nightjars are hard to spot but males have a distinctive call known as a \u2018churr\u2019. It was a sound that was slipping away from the British countryside amid the destruction of the nightjar\u2019s heathland habitat.<\/span>
It prompted the RSPB to restore heathlands at its sites across the UK, notably at Minsmere in Suffolk, where ecologists can hear their work paying off.\u00a0<\/span>
\u201cVisiting heathland on a summer evening, the sound of churring nightjars is everywhere,\u201d said Nick Forster, site manager. \u201cTheir distinctive calls carry a long way and are an amazing wildlife experience. Being able to hear those calls is the perfect reminder that the hard work is paying off.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0<\/span>
Image: Verity Hill\/RSPB<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n
That\u2019s according to the Co-operative Bank, which assessed cities across the country based on key factors, such as air quality, access to green spaces, recycling rates, green jobs, conservation funding, and cycling infrastructure.\u00a0<\/span>
Reading came out in top, thanks to its high rates of recycling and green space. Sunderand\u2019s green jobs boom saw it come second, followed by Bristol, which stood out for its commitment to recycling and cycling. Poor air quality and low recycling rates saw London rank bottom, despite its extensive bike lane network.\u00a0<\/span>
Commenting on the findings, Kathy Richter, the bank\u2019s sustainability lead, said: \u201cIt\u2019s encouraging to see Reading, Sunderland and Bristol making strides toward greener, more sustainable communities, but there\u2019s still much to be done, especially in larger urban centres like London and Birmingham.\u201d<\/span>
Image: Marco Zuppone<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n
The project was organised by Save the Children UK, which gave cameras to young refugees from Gaza so they could document their new lives in Egypt.
The idea of the project was to use photography to help the children process grief \u2013 and share their hopes and dreams for the future.
\u201cAs war rages on in Gaza, we must remember that\u00a0children\u00a0are always conflict\u2019s biggest victims \u2013 and so their voices and stories need to be heard,\u201d said Oscar-nominated director, photographer and Save the Children Ambassador Misan Harriman, who led the initiative.
\u201cThat\u2019s what this project is all about: reminding people of the real, human experience behind the headlines.\u201d
Read more and see some of the photographs here<\/a>.<\/span>
Image: Save the Children UK\/Choose Love
Main image: iStock<\/span><\/em>
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