Around The Web

Cast: AdelaideSBN

From the murky waters of the Murray River emerges a rare monster with an underbelly of red berries and claws of ghostly white.

Tesla’s electric semi-trailer is expected to be unveiled next month - described by Elon Musk as a “beast”. The Tesla innovation is expected to boost the profile of an Australian-owned electric drive system.

Christine Tacon’s firm hand is bringing results but many farmers still fall foul of unfair practice, say Kerry McCarthy MP, Lindsey Macdonald of NFU Scotland and 11 other signatories

Farmers at home and those in developing countries are waiting with bated breath for the government to rule on expanding the role of the groceries code adjudicator, Christine Tacon. Ms Tacon has wielded her ombudsman role to impose sanctions on supermarkets for failures to play fair with suppliers – and her firm hand is bringing results. But many farmers growing food for our tables still fall foul of unfair practice.

Late cancellations to orders – the equivalent of ordering a meal only to walk out as it arrives at the table – leave piles of unwanted fruit and veg rotting on compost heaps instead of filling our shopping baskets. Ahead of the government’s call for evidence we interviewed banana farmers who received late order changes four weeks out of five, leading to additional costs in an industry notorious for tight margins and difficult working conditions. Late payments also cost farmers money. One group of UK dairy farmers has found itself out of pocket by up to £14,000 per farm since 2015 because of a two-week delay to payments imposed on them by their milk purchaser.

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The British-led project to build a 1,000mph car reaches a key milestone in its development.

Nasako Besingi has been jailed after opposing a US-funded palm-oil plantation and supporters say this is linked to Cameroon’s ‘anglophone crisis’

A prominent campaigner against palm oil plantations has been arrested amid a growing crackdown on environmental and human rights activists in Cameroon, according to local lawyers and NGOs.

Nasako Besingi, who has led opposition to a US-funded 73,000 hectare farm in a biodiverse rainforest, is among more than 100 individuals who have been detained during an escalation of tension between the predominantly French-speaking authorities and the country’s large English-speaking minority.

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Bearded tits in Norfolk, rutting deer in Dublin, and a hungry polar bear in Alaska are among our pick of images from the natural world

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The week’s top environment news stories and green events. If you are not already receiving this roundup, sign up here to get the briefing delivered to your inbox

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Focus of London mayor’s proposed ban will be on educating owners not to burn wood during bad air quality episodes

Sadiq Khan’s proposed ban on wood-burning stoves in the most-polluted areas of London will not be enforced against householders and will only be in operation at certain times of the year.

Under the mayor of London’s plans, the stoves would be occasionally banned from use in zones in the capital from 2025 and UK-wide laws blocking the sale of all but the newest, cleanest stoves from 2022 would be brought in earlier.

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New Zealand's forest used to be home to millions of kiwi. Now there are only 68,000 left.

Sadiq Khan wants to reduce air pollution – and one of the worst offenders is the wood-fired stove. But is there any other use for your Scandi-inspired heater?

In a blow targeted straight at the city’s middle-class heart, Sadiq Khan is trying to ban some wood-burning stoves from London. To reduce air pollution, he is seeking powers to prohibit the burning of wood in any areas that suffer from poor air quality. However, there are 1.5m wood-burning stoves in the UK, and that number is increasing by 200,000 annually. So, if you have a wood-burning stove that you can’t use any more, what are you supposed to do with it? Some thoughts.

• Use it to burn something less harmful to the environment than wood. Polystyrene perhaps?

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In his new documentary, the explorer joins Borneo’s Penan tribe to see what the world’s indigenous people can teach us about our own survival and that of the planet

• Tawai: A Voice from the Forest review – earnest odyssey to the heart of Borneo

Bruce Parry has made a career out of going native. The Royal Marine-turned-celebrity explorer may not yet be as fully-fledged an institution as David Attenborough, but if the British public were to nominate anyone to paddle up a crocodile-infested creek, tuck into a wriggling dinner or liberate their mind with shamanistic drugs, Parry would surely rank near the top.

So it is worthy of note that this affable and – until now – mainstream film-maker has been forced to part ways with the BBC for his latest project, a documentary that stresses environmental defence begins on the home front.

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The entrepreneur says his new rocket could fly people to Mars or move them rapidly between cities.

Creator of ChemStart, Bathabile Mpofu, takes hands-on scientific experiments into schools in South Africa.

Cast: AdelaideSBN

Mercury is found in household items from beauty products to electronics, and even in food. Without proper safeguards our health is in danger

Mercury is far more pervasive than most people realise, and we have no idea how many people are at risk. It can be found in everything from mascara and dental amalgam to thermometers and skin whitening creams – and that’s before it reaches the food chain.

There is no safe level of exposure, and everyone is at risk when mercury is released without safeguards. Children and newborn and unborn babies are most vulnerable, along with populations who eat contaminated fish. Studies have shown that children as far afield as Brazil, Canada, China, Columbia and Greenland all suffer cognitive impairment from eating fish containing mercury.

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Bigger livestock in larger numbers in more regions has led to methane in the air climbing faster than predicted due to ‘out-of-date data’

Emissions of the greenhouse gas methane from livestock are larger than previously thought, posing an additional challenge in the fight to curb global warming, scientists have said.

Revised calculations of methane produced per head of cattle show that global livestock emissions in 2011 were 11% higher than estimates based on data from the UN’s Intergovernmental Panel for Climate Change (IPCC).

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Tesla signs connection agreement for world's biggest lithium battery" in South Australia, triggering 100-day countdown. But much of it is already in place and was providing the power for a night-time launch party at the Hornsdale wind farm.

Cast: AdelaideSBN

Australia is standing for election to the World Heritage Committee from 2017 to 2021.