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Conservationists hope the return of the near-extinct herbivore – ‘a living strimmer’ – will clear the undergrowth that fuels fires

As the temperatures begin to rise, Spain is braced for another summer of the forest fires that over the past 10 years have destroyed about 741,000 hectares (1.8m acres) of forest.

Last year, fires consumed 45,000 hectares according to government estimates, the year before 60,000 hectares, and there are signs that, as in California and Australia, the fires are becoming more frequent and more intense.

The bison opens up dense parts of the forest, which lets in light and allows grass to grow instead of scrub

Related: Wildfires are ruinous - so how to stop them happening in the first place?

Instead of stopping unnecessary air travel, the UK is considering measures that would make it cheaper

This week the French national assembly voted to ban domestic flights on routes that could be travelled via train in under two and a half hours. The new rule, which is the result of a French citizens’ climate convention established by Emmanuel Macron in response to the gilets jaunes (yellow vests) movement, will capture 12% of French domestic flights. Though it’s more moderate than the convention’s initial proposal, which sought to ban all domestic flights on routes with rail alternatives of less than four hours, this is the first time any major economy has prohibited domestic air travel for environmental reasons. It’s also far more drastic than anything the UK has done to curb flight emissions.

The huge blow the pandemic has dealt to the aviation industry could be an opportune moment to rethink the future of flights. Before Covid, air travellers rated around half of all flights as unnecessary. Apart from a few exceptions in particularly remote regions, domestic flights in small countries must be among the least necessary of all. Just over half a million flights were taken every year between London and Manchester before the pandemic, a journey that takes around two hours by train. Because so much of the pollution from any given flight takes place during take-off and landing cycles, the emissions produced per kilometre for each passenger on a domestic route are 70% higher than long haul flights – and six times higher than if the same journey was made by rail.

Leo Murray is co-founder and director of innovation at climate charity Possible

Latest figures show increase of 2% in 2018-19 driven by energy sector and rise in methanol production

An increase in New Zealand’s greenhouse gas emissions is a step in the wrong direction towards the country’s goal of carbon neutrality by 2050, say experts, who have called on the government to bring in more radical action.

The latest Greenhouse Gas Inventory, released by the minister for the environment on Tuesday, shows that both gross and net emissions increased by 2% in the 12 months to the end of 2019. The increase was predominantly driven by the energy sector and an increase in methanol production in the manufacturing industries.

Related: New Zealand needs urgent action to cut emissions, says climate change commission

Faced with climate change, farmers in Jammu and Kashmir are switching from maize to essential oils

It’s late June and the field is glowing with fragrant purple as the women in their flowing shalwar kameez arrive with scythes to harvest the lavender. In the 30-odd villages on the hilly slopes of Jammu’s Doda district, more than 200 farmers have shifted from maize to lavender production, starting a “purple revolution” in the region.

The village of Lehrote had a moment of agricultural fame this year when a 43-year-old farmer, Bharat Bhushan, won a prestigious award for innovative farming from the Indian Agricultural Research Institute, one of several institutions across the country looking to find ways of coping with the climate crisis and its devastating impact on farming. Lavender, a drought-resistant crop, can be grown on poor soil and likes lots of sun but needs little water.

Women who are not allowed to work away from their villages can cultivate lavender around their home

Related: How India’s battle with climate change could determine all of our fates