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Editor's note

In a moment when news of human suffering and conflict is so stark, it can be hard for environmental stories to cut through. Articles about another hectare of deforestation or approaching tipping point might come across as distant and abstract. With two major international wars, a series of devastating natural disasters and a new Trump presidency to reckon with, why should the world pay attention to a UN biodiversity conference?

But on the ground for Cop16 in Cali, Colombia, it was clear how intertwined these stories were. Ecological breakdown was the thread weaving through almost every one – from the militia leaders toying with Amazonian deforestation, to the floods and fires dominating headlines in Spain and Brazil, to rising food insecurity across dozens of territories.

Negotiators from around the world gathered in Cali to decide how to put agreements to save nature into practice. The stakes were high – in a series of alarming reports, reporter Patrick Greenfield detailed how last year the world’s land and trees absorbed almost no carbon, a worrying indication that natural systems that regulate the climate were beginning to fracture. Climate and nature have long been treated as independent issues, but at the summit it was clear that leaders were waking up to the reality that they were two sides of the same coin – we cannot solve the climate crisis without halting nature loss. Speaking to scientists and researchers, Phoebe Weston documented how ecological breakdown touched almost all elements of human thriving – from food security to health and disease resistance, and from politics to wellbeing.

It was also clear that global politics and pressures had reshaped the biodiversity conversation. The political landscape has shifted since countries agreed on ambitious goals to preserve nature in 2022, and efforts to progress the thorniest issue – funding – struggled to move forward. Talks ran over time, before ending abruptly, with major questions unresolved.

Despite the setbacks, there was something inspiring about seeing nearly 200 countries working to edit a single document into something they could agree on. And there were some big victories. A fund to raise money from commercial products derived from nature’s genetics could raise up to $1bn a year. Indigenous communities, vital to the preservation of nature, finally got proper recognition in the negotiation process.

For a hopeful glimpse of what the work of those communities looks like on the ground, I’ll leave you with three pieces: this opinion article from Omaira Bolaños, on her work getting resources to women on the frontline of environmental crises. A gorgeous documentary, Guardians of the Gibbons, on how an Assam village has learned to live in harmony with India’s only ape species. And this great snapshot of life for Colombia’s environmental defenders – featuring river dolphins, death threats and a militia leader named Smurf.
Tess McClure, editor, Age of extinction

Spotlight

Climate crisis
Severe drought puts nearly half a million children at risk in Amazon – report

Top picks

Cattle, crops and ancient olive groves
Lebanon’s farmers ‘lose everything’ to Israeli bombs

Giant flowers, a buried chariot and temples in the sand:
The art show in the shadow of Giza pyramids

Ethiopia
Rounded up, massacred and posted on social media: can Ethiopia bring justice for atrocities in Tigray?

Somalia
US cancels $1.1bn of Somalia’s debt in ‘historic’ financial agreement

Sudan
'We will make you have Arab babies’: fears of genocide amid rape and torture in Darfur

Rights and freedom

Israel-Gaza war
‘Almost unparalleled suffering’ in Gaza as UN says nearly 70% of those killed are women and children

Head of the Norwegian Refugee Council calls for peace process to begin as new figures reveal civilians have borne the brunt of the war

Iran
Fears grow that woman arrested for undressing in Iran could be tortured in psychiatric unit

Human rights
Migrant workers exposed to deadly 45C temperatures in Gulf – report

Southern frontlines

‘I’m switched off’
Frustration and fatigue as power cuts keep Ecuador in the dark

Facing a severe drought and reliant on hydropower, the country is enduring relentless blackouts. But experts say opportunities have been missed to adapt and diversify

‘You can’t even wash your hands’
Is a global industrial hub responsible for the destruction of Mexico’s Atoyac River?

In pictures

What does safe mean to you?
Young photographers share images of family, friendship and hope

Restless Development, a global youth agency, asked photographers aged 18-25 from around the world to submit images for the WHO global campaign to end violence against children on the theme of feeling safe

What we're reading

Uprooting follows Marchelle Farrell as she emigrates from Trinidad to settle as the only black woman in a village in the English countryside. Against a backdrop of the pandemic and global reckoning around race, she uses her garden to develop a sense of home and belonging. It’s a book about reconnecting to the land, the natural world and the self in a time of political turbulence

Uprooting: From the Caribbean to the Countryside – Finding Home in an English Garden
Uprooting follows Marchelle Farrell as she emigrates from Trinidad to settle as the only black woman in a village in the English countryside. Against a backdrop of the pandemic and global reckoning around race, she uses her garden to develop a sense of home and belonging. It’s a book about reconnecting to the land, the natural world and the self in a time of political turbulence

The Guardian Bookshop

What we're watching

Guardians of the Gibbons
Animal-human harmony hangs in the balance

And finally

Iraq
After Islamic State: how writers and poets are reclaiming the soul of Mosul

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