An ecologist explains what happens next.

Approach focuses on rebuilding soil health, increasing biodiversity and restoring natural ecosystems

Grant applications in England surge as interest grows in habitat that captures carbon and helps reduce flood risk

Environment Agency names seven regions affected by unusually hot and dry weather and shortage of water

Done properly, rewilded landscapes are more fire-resistant.

Analysis of global resources reveals depletion in world’s water savings bank to 42% below normal levels last year

Exclusive: utility company wants to draw off tens of millions of litres of water a day from Thames and replace it with treated effluent

For decades I've been infuriated by articles in The Economist, The Telegraph et al. suggesting that higher CO2 levels and rising temperatures would be a good thing for Europe’s farmers, increasing the rate of photosynthesis and hence yields. A few people further south might suffer (they don’t have much money anyway) but at least we'd be OK. What are these pillars of rationality writing now as Europe burns? Perhaps that it's too late to fight climate change so we'd better adapt, or if we reduce our use of fossil fuels, it must be a “gentle transition”? It's both tragic and laughable that we seem intent on spending our last dollar of discretionary capital, not on transition, but on AI and vast data centres whose purpose will be to persuade us to buy more of the crap that got us into this mess. The reality, which any gardener and farmer knows, is that yield and quality are more often determined by the extremes than the averages, and the frequency of extreme weather events falling outside crop tolerance is increasing faster than averages are moving. On our farm in the French Vendée, temperatures above 32°C have caused aubergines to abort their fruit due to stress; runner beans in the UK have done the same. We'd have been able to top up from Spain but our growers there are suffering similarly, or worse. Our UK tomato, pepper and cucumber season is barely 3 months but is faring better with the growth potential boosted by high temperatures and sunlight, balanced out by losses due to stress. Those with irrigation have now pretty much run out of water and are keeping what's left for the high value crops. Half the carrots have failed and potato yields will be down 25%. In the south-west, much of our summer broccoli, cauliflower and Romanesco has traditionally been grown on unirrigated ground. Many will now fail, with the remaining crops having drastically reduced yield and compromised quality. As our reservoirs run dry and our crops die, data centres will have plenty of water, energy and will leapfrog the planning process. It seems they're needed for the only sort of growth that matters. You can’t eat it and it’s killing our planet but who dares impede a tech bro?

National Trust’s Holnicote estate says restored wetlands and rivers offer proof of resilience to drought, wildfires and flooding

The British landscape has been stripped of many of its bogs and wetlands in the last three centuries.

Analysis pinpoints areas most vulnerable to hotter, drier weather causing ground to shrink and drag foundations down

Caistor St Edmund, Norfolk: Underfoot the ground is as hard as metal, while the council’s ‘leaky dams’ are set for the next deluge

3,101 likes, 202 comments - holly_the_ranger_ on August 14, 2026: "I think we've all been shocked by the UK wildfires this summer, but more than that, I've been surprised to see so many people think t...

Part one of a two-part series: England's reservoirs face a widening water shortfall as population growth and 1.5 million new homes strain storage

More than 140 clubs breached licences, with a third caught taking water illegally, analysis shows – but no fines issued

The Living Lowlands Programme is a £3-million programme of work that sits at the heart of our vision for the future of lowland peat habitats. Focussing on iconi

The most effective wildfire risk reduction happens long before the first 999 call.