From Kenya to the Seychelles, coronavirus has dealt a devastating blow to efforts to protect endangered wildlife

• How Covid-19 could push mountain gorillas back to the brink

From the vast plains of the Masai Mara in Kenya to the delicate corals of the Aldabra atoll in the Seychelles, conservation work to protect some of the world’s most important ecosystems is facing crisis following a collapse in ecotourism during the Covid-19 pandemic.

Organisations that depend on visitors to fund projects for critically endangered species and rare habitats could be forced to close, according to wildlife NGOs, after border closures and worldwide travel restrictions abruptly halted millions of pounds of income from tourism.

Once a step away from extinction, their survival was a rare success story. But groundbreaking gorilla conservation is now in peril

• Ecotourism collapse threatens communities and wildlife

As he clambers down the forested ravine, soil slipping beneath his boots, Dr Fred Nizeyimana knows they are close. “I can smell them,” he says, just before the mountain gorillas come into view high in the canopy, plucking leaves and chomping on the vegetation. An adult female slides down a tree, a flash of black fur and elongated limb. More follow, with infants and juveniles in tow. A grunting silverback descends to join its family, the branches buckling beneath approximately 180kg (400lb) of iconic primate.

After all we have already endured in 2020 we should know that stopping an emergency is far better than responding to one

In just a few short months, many more people in Australia have faced greater adversity in 2020 than in the decade since we emerged from the global financial crisis.

The bushfires that affected the health of millions, claimed lives and livelihoods, blighted our landscape and destroyed communities were unprecedented in size and intensity. Now the acute shock of the Covid-19 pandemic has also taken lives and left many more living in fear, while throwing hundreds of thousands out of paid work, shattering businesses and leaving us facing an unstable new world.

Guardian environment correspondent Fiona Harvey recalls being heckled at the House of Commons and explains how attitudes to climate have shifted in 10 years

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The shouted words rang out across the packed parliamentary corridor: “Fiona Harvey is the worst journalist there is. She’s the worst journalist of them all, because she should know better.”

They were the words of Lord Lawson, former UK chancellor of the exchequer, turned climate denier and now Brexiter, addressing a crowd of more than 100 people trying to cram into a House of Commons hearing on climate change. As listeners craned their necks to hear better, whispering and nudging, he elaborated at length on my insistence on reporting the work of the 97% of the world’s climate scientists whose work shows human responsibility for global heating, and failure to give equal weight to the tiny number of dissenters.

Marshwood Vale, Dorset: It began in March, when the buff-tailed queens emerged from hibernation, zigzagging from bloom to bloom

In the garden on a bright morning, with sunshine lancing the cherry blossom, my eye is drawn to the fat glitter of a queen bumblebee gathering nectar in the golden bowl of a tree peony flower. A black, almost velvety, body and rich orange-tipped rump indicate that this is a red-tailed bumblebee (Bombus lapidarius). Her wings shine as if newly waxed, while her tongue briskly probes a tassel of stamens. After a few seconds she’s off to check the next bloom – then airborne again, zooming over the wall.

Lockdown has replaced the background hum of distant traffic with the low, blundering drone of bumblebees. It began in March when buff-tailed queens emerged from hibernation, zigzagging across the lawn. Buff-tails are easily recognised by their size – the queens can be more than 2cm long – and their markings, two well-separated yellow bands and a brown-tinged tail-tip. Because they nest in holes in the ground, they are also called earth bumblebees (Bombus terrestris). The name is like an anchor, tethering a creature of sunlight, pollen and warmth to the chthonic darkness underground.

Only government action will preserve the clearer, bluer skies gifted to us by the coronavirus lockdown

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Many of us will have noticed differences in traffic noise and air pollution during the lockdown. Startling images have come from India where, for the first time in a generation, the Himalayas have been visible more than a hundred miles away. Something similar happened in the UK in 1921 when coal shortages during a miner’s strike led to newspaper reports of distant landmarks being visible as never before. In the UK we too have been able to look up at clearer blue skies, less impeded by air pollution and not crisscrossed by aircraft contrails. This helped Germany to break a solar power record.

In Beijing, air pollution controls for the 2014 Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation meeting also brought a return to blue skies. The term “APEC blue” emerged in Chinese social media and was nominated as Beijing’s top environmental phrase for the year. Later it took on a tinge of sadness, to mean something wonderful, but brief. One woman posted about love on social media, “He’s not that into you – it’s just an APEC blue!”

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Los avistamientos del avispón asiático gigante han provocado temores de que el insecto se establezca en Estados Unidos y extermine a las poblaciones de abejas.

Canada’s smallest province remains one of its most affordable, despite a shortage of inventory exacerbated by the pandemic.

Tapes of conference calls of FEMA and HHS officials across the country reveal widespread worries about new waves of Covid-19 infections.

Using data from the COVID Tracking Project, we’re following how each state is responding to COVID-19.

“I stood up for the truth and performed at the highest levels,” Sessions said.

Countries scramble to fill the plates of the most vulnerable.

The party is downplaying expectations in next week's special election for a congressional seat in the L.A. suburbs.

The Pentagon can't prevent a pandemic.

Did you miss our live chat? Watch the whole thing here.

Two former Inslee campaign staffers have a message for Joe Biden: To unite the Democratic party, prioritize climate policies.

Even in the face of a global pandemic.

L.A. Mayor Eric Garcetti announced Friday evening that producer Steve Tisch and the Jonas Brothers each donated $500,000 — $1 million total — to the Mayor’s Fund for Los Angeles and to the Angelino Card program. Garcetti called Tisch “a friend who moved here to Los Angeles…to make a life for himself, found great success […]

A Sydney man appears in a Gold Coast court on an upgraded charge after Brazilian national Ivan Susin dies in hospital as a result of a head injury he suffered in a Surfers Paradise scuffle.

With the all clear to begin clearing land at Mount Gilead for a 1,700-home housing estate, there have been renewed calls for a national park isolating the area's koalas.

Glenda McCulloch paints contemporary Indigenous art. After advertising her paintings on Instagram, she found the demand for her art is much stronger than she first expected.

An alleged cocaine drug ring spanning two states is uncovered by New South Wales and South Australian police, leading to the arrests of five people.

Deploying Defence aircraft to bring hundreds of performers to the Edinburgh Military Tattoo in Sydney presents an opportunity for Australia to gain ground in the battle for influence in the Pacific.

New documents raise questions over UNSW's investigation of its star cancer researcher, Levon Khachigian.

Sometimes being creative involves getting burnt. It's a lesson two gay podcasters in Sydney learnt the hard way.

MORNING BRIEFING: The first non-stop commercial flight between New York and Sydney will depart shortly, and a man is charged over an alleged $170,000 diamond fraud committed in 2002.

Nida Dar has overcome more than her fair share of challenges during her career and she is now looking to leave her mark on the WBBL as the first Pakistani cricketer to play in the tournament.

A Sydney jury is unable to reach a unanimous or majority verdict in the case of a Kulwinder Singh, who pleaded not guilty to setting his wife Parwinder Kaur on fire in 2013. She later died in hospital.

The Federal Government is falling short on its own commitment to boost funding for services to keep Australia free from pests and disease.

Space advocates spruik the human benefits but critics say it costs far too much. Ever since the moon landing, space has been seen as a "giant leap" for humankind, but is it in the wrong direction?

The Sky Blues make it two from two with a against the Phoenix, following Melbourne City's 2-1 win over Adelaide United.

This organic farming program is turning residential backyards into market gardens to tackle food security, food mileage and social isolation.

A senior constable who performed 19 strip searches during the Splendour in the Grass festival last year tells an inquiry the procedures were "unlawful" and that the experience had been "a massive learning experience".

The owners of Sydney's troubled Mascot Towers claim new test have revealed a "loss of soil" under the apartment complex's north east corner the same area cracks first appeared before the building was evacuated in June.

Royal Life Saving Society Australia is warning parents to limit distractions and be vigilant with water safety, as new data shows one-year-olds are at the greatest risk of drowning compared to any other age group.

In the wake of the construction disasters of the Opal Tower and Mascot Towers, the NSW Government is introducing new laws to Parliament which would mean builders have a duty of care to owners and could be fined upwards of $100,000 for any faulty work.

A NSW police officer is accused of "sloppy work" in an inquiry after she mistakenly inflated the quantity of drugs found on a reveller at Splendour in the Grass last year by nearly eight times.

MORNING BRIEFING: Plans to sell off the remaining bus routes have been slammed by the unions, and the annual Sculpture by the Sea exhibition adds colour to the eastern coastline.

Ashleigh Gardner has already suffered five concussions in her short cricket career, but the 22-year-old all-rounder hopes to use the experiences to make her a better player.

A Federal Court judge rules Chinese property developer Huang Xiangmo should declare his overseas assets as the ATO which alleges the billionaire has an unpaid $141 million tax debt closes in.

Sudden stratospheric warming it's great for the ozone layer at the South Pole, but not so great for heat and rain levels over the next few months.

Phoebe Litchfield is a high school student in country New South Wales, who also happens to be one of the brightest young talents to hit the WBBL.

Shorebirds are increasingly under pressure around Australia, as the nation's wetlands and coastal estuaries continue to be swallowed by housing.

Western Sydney Wanderers claim a 1-0 victory over crosstown rivals Sydney FC, while FFA Cup champions Adelaide United celebrate a 2-1 defeat of Newcastle Jets.

More than 90 fire fighters are battling the blaze in inner west Sydney.