As diplomats search for a deal to curb the world’s growing problem of plastic, piles of bottles, buoys, nets and packaging keep building up in what should be a pristine environment As our small fishing boat slows to a halt in a shallow bay south-east of Puerto Ayora, Santa Cruz, in the Galápagos Islands, a green turtle surfaces next to us, followed by a second, then a third a few metres away. A spotted eagle ray glides underneath the vessel. The skipper, Don Nelson, steps on to the black volcanic reef, slippery with algae. We follow, past exposed mangrove roots and up on to higher ground. Peli ..read more

Celebrity fashion designer, who recruited couriers to transport bags from her native Colombia to US on commercial flights, receives 18-month sentence A leading fashion designer whose accessories were used by celebrities from Britney Spears to the cast of the Sex and the City TV series has been sentenced to 18 months in prison after pleading guilty in Miami federal court on charges of smuggling crocodile handbags from her native Colombia. Nancy Gonzalez was arrested in 2022 in Cali, Colombia, and later extradited to the US for running a sprawling multiyear conspiracy that involved recruiting co ..read more

Swallows, cuckoos, curlews – so many species have dwindled or disappeared completely, and people are mourning their loss Read more: World faces ‘deathly silence’ of nature as wildlife disappears, warn experts The sounds of our natural world are changing dramatically. Earth’s wildlife populations have plunged by 69% in fewer than 50 years. Fading along with them are many of the distinctive soundscapes of nature: the night-time calls of mammals, morning chorus of birds and buzz of insects. This global story is stitched together by many local stories of loss. We spoke to readers about how natural ..read more

Birdwatching may have started out as a hobby, but active volunteers are helping bridge data gaps of threatened species and reaping real world outcomes as they go Change by Degrees offers life hacks and sustainable living tips each Saturday to help reduce your household’s carbon footprint Got a question or tip for reducing household emissions? Email us at changebydegrees@theguardian.com Sean Dooley first started birdwatching as a 10-year-old with a notebook in hand at a place then known as the “Seaford swamp”, a freshwater wetland beside his primary school in Melbourne’s south-east. “I was ju ..read more

Experts celebrate discovery of secretive and endangered Australasian bittern in recently restored wetlands Get our morning and afternoon news emails, free app or daily news podcast The “bunyip bird” – named after a mythological river-lurking, human-eating monster – is as elusive as its namesake. Also known as the Australasian bittern, it is heard more often than it is seen. It means that when bittern expert Geoff Shannon discovered the bird at Tasmania’s recently restored Lagoon of Islands – the first time it had been seen there in 40 years – it was a “very special moment ..read more

Analysis of 60o gardens shows wilder lawns feed caterpillars and create breeding habitat Good news for lazy gardeners: one labour-saving tweak could almost double the number of butterflies in your garden, according to a new scientific study – let the grass grow long. In recent years nature lovers have been extolling the benefits of relaxed lawn maintenance with the growing popularity of the #NoMowMay campaign. Now an analysis of six years of butterfly sightings across 600 British gardens has provided the first scientific evidence that wilder lawns boost butterfly numbers ..read more

Noreen and Antonia, born last May, are among first cloned offspring of a native endangered species in North America Two more black-footed ferrets have been successfully cloned in an attempt to save the endangered species, the US Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) announced. The national agency shared news about the births of ferrets Noreen and Antonia, who were both born last May ..read more

State government and Nature Conservancy jointly purchase Vergemont station, which contains habitat for endangered night parrots Sign up for the Rural Network email newsletter Join the Rural Network group on Facebook to be part of the community A Queensland outback cattle station the size of Yosemite national park which includes key habitat for the elusive night parrot has been acquired for conservation after an anonymous donation of $21m. Vergemont station, 110km west of Longreach, was acquired in a joint purchase by the Queensland government and the Nature Conservancy, which brokered the de ..read more

As the soundscape of the natural world began to disappear over 30 years, one man was listening and recording it all Read more: World faces ‘deathly silence’ of nature as wildlife disappears, warn experts The tale starts 30 years ago, when Bernie Krause made his first audio clip in Sugarloaf Ridge state park, 20 minutes’ drive from his house near San Francisco. He chose a spot near an old bigleaf maple. Many people loved this place: there was a creek and a scattering of picnic benches nearby. As a soundscape recordist, Krause had travelled around the world listening to the planet. But in 1993 h ..read more

Loss of intensity and diversity of noises in ecosystems reflects an alarming decline in healthy biodiversity, say sound ecologists Read more: No birdsong, no water in the creek, no beating wings: how a haven for nature fell silent Sounds of the natural world are rapidly falling silent and will become “acoustic fossils” without urgent action to halt environmental destruction, international experts have warned. As technology develops, sound has become an increasingly important way of measuring the health and biodiversity of ecosystems: our forests, soils and oceans all produce their own acoustic ..read more