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Warning of climate change risks to remote St Kilda
LONDON, UK, 13 May 2024 (BBC) - Scientists say they have identified the biggest climate change threats to one of Scotland's most fragile environments. St Kilda more than 40 miles west of the Western Isles is home to thousands of sea birds, and also unique sub-species of mouse and wren. A new study suggests rising temperatures, more frequent and severe storms and changes to ocean currents pose the greatest risks to the archipelago. |
Scientists say Tasmania's Maugean skate could become extinct
LONDON, UK, 13 May 2024 (Guardian) - The critically endangered Maugean skate is talked about more often than seen. A quadrangular ray-like species, it has survived in brackish water on the bottom of Macquarie harbour – an immense body of water on Tasmania's sparsely populated west coast – for tens of thousands of years. It is not found anywhere else. After receiving scientific advice that aquaculture was having a "catastrophic" impact on the species, the Australian environment minister, Tanya Plibersek, agreed with an environment group request that she should formally reconsider salmon farm licences in the harbour. |
'Cold lava' sweeps villages near volcano
JAKARTA, Indonesia, 13 May 2024 (BBC) - At least 41 people were killed after flash floods and "cold lava" flowing from a volcano hit the western Indonesian island of Sumatra. Hours of heavy rain on Saturday swept torrents of ash and rocks down Mount Marapi, the most active volcano in Sumatra. |
Tromelin Island's impressive comeback
VICTORIA, Canada, 13 May 2024 (Hakai) - The last rat on Tromelin Island - a small teardrop of scrubby sand in the western Indian Ocean near Madagascar - was killed in 2005.and today the island is once again a thriving seabird paradise, home to thousands of breeding pairs belonging to seven different species. |
Water crises are a growing problem across the Caribbean islands
BALTIMORE, US, 13 May 2024 (Conversation) - Within the past five years, every island in the region has experienced some sort of water scarcity. For example, Trinidad is experiencing its worst drought in recent memory, and residents are under water restrictions through at least the end of June 2024, with fines for anyone who violates the rules. |
Oman's Daymaniyat Islands gains underwater military museum
LONDON, UK, 13 May 2024 (SDM) - This ambitious project close to the famed Daymaniyat Islands Nature Reserve involves placing decommissioned military equipment, including seven MAN Atlas trucks and a Skyvan aircraft, on the seabed with an aim to increase coral growth and encourage proliferation of marine life by creating a new eco-system that mimics natural coral reefs. |
Mangrove restoration on a Mexican isle wrecked by salt mining
SAN FRANCISCO, US, 13 May 2024 (Mongabay) - For decades, salt mining has deteriorated the wetlands and natural flood patterns of Isla del Carmen, part of Bahía de Loreto National Park in Mexico. Collaboration between two conservation organizations and a community of fishers on the mainland are working to restore the mangroves of Isla del Carmen by rehabilitating its hydrology and constructing “vegetation terraces” for the trees. |
Glimmer of hope for mountain chicken frog
ROSEAU, Dominica, 12 May 2024 (BBC) - A frog that has been cooked and eaten for decades on the Caribbean island of Dominica is on the verge of becoming extinct, but there is now a frantic push to try to save it. In March, the Zoological Society of London announced the appearance of six mountain chicken froglets at London Zoo, after two of the frogs that were brought from Montserrat successfully bred for the first time in five years. |
Indigenous Sumatrans who lost their forests to plantations
SEPINTUN, Indonesia, 9 May 2024 (Mongabay) - The seminomadic Suku Anak Dalam Indigenous people have lived in two areas of what is now Jambi province on Indonesia’s Sumatra island for generations, but an influx of plantation interests has shrunk the customary territory available to their society. More than 2,000 have lost their land to oil palm and rubber plantations, which have also led to a loss of the native trees from which community members collect forest honey to sell. |
Ecosystem restoration is key to survival of US Channel Islands
NEW YORK, US, 11 May 2024 (Forbes) - Deep within the saturated blues of the Pacific Ocean, seals and whales traverse giant kelp forests waving gently in the current. Above ground, the island fox and Scripps's murrelet, a small seabird, scamper and float around a series of volcanic rocks. Known for its incredible biodiversity, the Channel Islands, located off the Southern California coast, have long been dubbed the "Galápagos of North America." |
Neolithic site in Orkney to be reburied after 20 years of excavation
LONDON, UK, 11 May 2024 (Guardian) - In a few weeks, archaeologists will gather at the Ness of Brodgar in Orkney and for the next two months excavate at one of Europe’s greatest prehistoric sites. For the last 20 summers, scientists and volunteers have dug here, revealing wonders that include 5,000-year-old remains of temples, hearths, a ceramic figurine, and elegant pottery. Then, on 16 August, the team will down their trowels and brushes for the last time and the site returned, in perpetuity, to its former status: an anonymous green field. |
Famed Thai holiday isles suffer water shortages after heatwave
BANGKOK, Thailand, 9 May 2024 (AFP) - The Koh Phi Phi archipelago, off the west coast of southern Thailand, draws hundreds of thousands of visitors to its pristine beaches and turquoise waters each year. But a deadly heatwave that has sent temperature records tumbling across the region in recent weeks - as well as a prolonged spell of low rainfall - has seen reservoirs run low. |
Scientists win World Food Prize for work on Global Seed Vault
PARIS, France, 9 May 2024 (AFP) - Scientists Geoffrey Hawtin and Cary Fowler helped set up a world reserve of seeds dug into a glacier on the Norwegian archipelago Svalbard in the Arctic - where 1.25 million samples are now stored for preservation in the cold. It was for this work they were named the 2024 winners of the World Food Prize, awarded to individuals who have increased the quality, quantity, or availability of food worldwide. |
How the humble coconut is starting to fuel parts of PNG
LONDON, UK, 10 May 2024 (Guardian) - On Karkar island in Papua New Guinea, hundreds of coconut trees stand tall, stretching far into the distance. Decades ago, the fruit was a lucrative export but over the years it has become less prized on international markets. Now, the small island off the north coast of the country, is putting coconuts to another use. The oil from copra – the white flesh from the coconut – is used to produce biodiesel, a renewable fuel made from biological sources, such as vegetable oils or animal fats. On Karkar that fuel is helping to power schools, hospitals and cargo ships. |
New Iceland plant scales up CO2 removal from air
HELLISHEIDI, Iceland, 8 May 2024 (AFP) - A Swiss start-up unveiled Wednesday its second plant in Iceland sucking carbon dioxide from the air and stocking it underground, scaling up its capacity tenfold with the aim of eliminating millions of tonnes of CO2 by 2030. Dubbed Mammoth, the plant lies just a few hundred metres from its little sister Orca, a pioneering facility opened by Swiss start-up Climeworks in September 2021 in the middle of a moss-covered lava field about a half-hour drive from the capital Reykjavik. |
Spanish islands toughen curbs on party holidays
LONDON, UK, 10 May 2024 (BBC) - Spain's Balearic Islands are expanding curbs on street drinking and further restricting party boats in a bid to crack down on alcohol-fuelled holidays in tourist areas. The government says the toughening of a law passed in 2020 will apply to popular hotspots including Playa de Palma and Magaluf in Majorca and Sant Antoni in Ibiza. People caught drinking outside of authorised areas will be fined between €500-1,500 (£430-1290). |
Great goat giveaway: Italian island inundated with adoption offers
ROME, Italy, 10 May 2024 (Guardian) - When the mayor of a remote Italian island grappling with an overpopulation of feral goats offered to give the animals away, he anticipated a smattering of interest from farmers on neighbouring isles who were perhaps keen to boost their production of ricotta cheese. But as news of his “adopt a goat” initiative spread beyond Alicudi, he received a flurry of offers from around the world – not just from Europe, but also the US and even from Nigeria. |
Is the unstoppable Marcos-Duterte alliance headed for divorce?
LONDON, UK, 8 May 2024 (BBC) - With his signature bombast, former Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte told a crowd of cheering supporters in January that his successor was a drug addict. The man who replaced him, Ferdinand "Bongbong" Marcos Jr, shot back, saying the former leader must have hurled the insult in an opioid-fuelled haze. |
Top climate scientists expect global heating to blast past 1.5C target
LONDON, UK, 8 May 2024 (Guardian) - Hundreds of the world’s leading climate scientists expect global temperatures to rise to at least 2.5C (4.5F) above preindustrial levels this century, blasting past internationally agreed targets and causing catastrophic consequences for humanity and the planet, an exclusive Guardian survey has revealed. |
Indonesia's Indigenous rights bill held back
JAKARTA, Indonesia, 7 May 2024 (Mongabay) - Fear among Indonesia’s ruling class of losing control of natural resources to Indigenous people is why the country’s parliament continues to delay passing a long-awaited bill on Indigenous rights, according to activists. |
UK Government announces extra funding to support UK islands
LONDON, UK, 8 May 2024 (GOV.UK) - Ahead of the fourth UK Islands Forum hosted on the Isle of Anglesey in Wales today, the UK Government has announced new funding to support island communities including a further £3 million awarded to Orkney-based European Marine Energy Centre - the world’s first and leading wave and tidal energy testing facility. |
How southern Madagascar is coping in a climate crisis
LONDON, UK, 9 May 2024 (Guardian) - Madagascar is one of the most vulnerable countries in the world, as changing weather patterns bring more dry spells and unpredictable rainy seasons. Sean Smith travelled to the south to meet those affected and to report on the ways they are trying to prepare for an altered future. |
I weep for the corals, but what I saw on the GBR gives me hope
LONDON, UK, 9 May 2024 (Guardian) - From the lab on One Tree Island research station – about 100km off the coast from Gladstone and in the southern region of the Gtreat Barrier Reef - I watch a steady procession of scientists walk to their next encounter with what has become the biggest palliative care unit on the planet. |
Ships pollute Baltic Sea with 'scrubber water'
LYON, France, 9 May 2024 (Euronews) - One of the more insidious sources of pollution in the Baltic Sea comes from a part of ships that is meant to reduce their impact on the environment: scrubbers. These cleaning systems pump up and spray seawater over the exhaust gases that ships generate when burning heavy fuel oil, turning them to liquid before they can reach the air. More than 200 million cubic metres of this toxic ‘scrubber water’ is released back into the Baltic Sea a year, researchers calculated. |
Controversial whale slaughter begins in Faroe Islands
LYON, France, 7 May 2024 (Euronews) - The Faroe Islands' annual whale hunt has begun, sparking condemnation from animal rights groups - though it remains a complex cultural issue. Critics say the practice is cruel and unnecessary, though defenders claim it is an integral part of island life and resist what they see as meddling by outsiders. |
The story of Teonimenu, a lost island of the Pacific
SYDNEY, Australia, 7 May 2024 (ABC) - If you type 9°59'36"S 161°59'10"E into Google Earth, you'll see a dark blue patch of water in the Pacific Ocean. It's about the same size as the dots of land that make up the nearby Solomon Islands. The sea is relatively shallow here, ranging between just 1 and 14 metres deep. Now known as Lark Shoal, it was once an island and part of the archipelago. |
Ferret detecting dog protecting Rathlin's puffins
LONDON, UK, 9 May 2024 (BBC) - A detection dog has joined the fight to save seabirds on Rathlin Island. Woody, the two-year-old Fox Red Labrador, will help trace any remaining ferrets on the island. |
Indonesia resumes lobster larvae exports
JAKARTA, Indonesia, 7 May 2024 (Mongabay) - The Indonesian government will resume a controversial policy of exporting lobster larvae, initially just to Vietnam, in exchange for investment in its own lobster-farming industry. The ban has met with controversy since it was introduced in 2016; a subsequent attempt to lift it failed after the fisheries minister at the time was jailed for corruption. |
Why island nation is urging Indian travellers to return
MUMBAI, India, 7 May 2024 (FP) - The Maldives’ tourism minister has appealed to Indians to return to the island nation. This request comes after data reveals a significant drop in Indians travelling to the archipelago - from 73,785 arrivals in the first four months of 2023 to 42,638 this year. After a diplomatic standoff between the two nations, Indian travellers boycotted the holiday destination en masse. |
Blue whale songs that hint at Antarctic resurgence
LONDON, UK, 5 May 2024 (Guardian) - Centuries of industrial whaling left only a few hundred Antarctic blue whales alive, making it almost impossible to find them in the wild. New research suggests the population may be recovering. Australian scientists and international colleagues spent two decades listening for their distinctive songs and calls, and have found the whales – the largest animals ever to have lived – swimming across the Southern Ocean with growing regularity. |
Rathlin's only shop avoids closure after 12k fraud
LONDON, UK, 6 May 2024 (BBC) - The future of Rathlin Island's only shop was in doubt after it is believed criminals used a phishing email to access its banking details. However, the Co-Operative Bank has now returned the money to the business, saying it fell prey to a “common type of scam”. Rathlin's residents and shop staff have expressed relief the "island's lifeblood" can stay open. |
Scientific shark study resumes in New Caledonia
WELLINGTON, New Zealand, 4 May 2024 (RNZ) - A scientific study on shark presence and behaviour is to resume shortly in New Caledonia's Southern Province, where two incidents in February last year prompted an indiscriminate culling campaign. The study will involve tagging two hundred specimens of tiger and bulldog sharks so their movements and behaviours can be monitored thanks to transmitters implanted in their stomachs. |
A window into the heart of the Farasan Islands
RIYADH, Saudi Arabia, 6 May 2024 (AN) - The Farasan Islands, a string of coral islands nestled 40 km off the coast of Jazan in the Red Sea, have been abuzz with activity recently as they hosted the 20th Hareed Festival. This vibrant annual event celebrates the arrival of parrotfish, also called hareed, in the islands’ shallow waters. |
Falklands dispute may last decades - Argentina president
LONDON, UK, 6 May 2024 (BBC) - Argentina’s president Javier Milei says he accepts the Falkland Islands are currently “in the hands of the UK". In an interview with the BBC, the right-wing politician vowed to get the islands back through diplomatic channels but said there was “no instant solution”. His language on the status of the Falklands is different from past leaders who have historically maintained the islands are Argentine. |
Rainy Chiloe, in Southern Chile, faces drinking water crisis
SANTIAGO, Chile, 2 May 2024 (IPS) - The drinking water supply in the southern island of Chiloé, one of Chile’s rainiest areas, is threatened by damage to its peatlands, affected by sales of peat and by a series of electricity projects, especially wind farms. |
The vast new Japanese whaling 'mother ship'
SHIMONOSEKI, Japan, 2 May 2024 (Guardian) - A new $47m vessel is preparing for its maiden voyage in coastal waters, but there are fears the Kangei Maru could one day mean a return to hunting in the Southern Ocean. |
Australian abandoned island resorts are now an eyesore
CAIRNS, Australia, 30 April 2024 (ABC) - A pool lined with green sludge, rotting roofs and termite infested buildings – this derelict island resort has become a sad tourist attraction for all the wrong reasons, and it's not an isolated case. At least half a dozen resorts along the Queensland coast have fallen to a similar fate. |
GBR worst bleaching leaves giant coral graveyard
LONDON, UK, 30 April 2024 (Guardian) - Beneath the turquoise waters off Heron Island lies a huge, brain-shaped Porites coral that, in health, would be a rude shade of purplish-brown. Today that coral outcrop, or bommie, shines snow white. |
Indigenous Philippine village rejects gold mine
SITIO DALICNO, Philippines, 1 May 2024 (Mongabay) - Domeng Laita, 64, stands on a mountain ledge outside his home, looking down with worry on his face. Below him stands the embankment of the San Roque dam, stretching more than a kilometer along the Agno River. In 2012, a spill from a gold mine upstream sent millions of tons of waste into the river system. With a looming increase in mining activity, Laita says he dreads a repeat of the incident. |
Developed countries accused of bowing to lobbyists
LONDON, UK, 30 April 2024 (Guardian) - Campaigners are blaming developed countries for capitulating at the last minute to pressure from fossil fuel and industry lobbyists, and slowing progress towards the first global treaty to cut plastic waste. Delegates concluded talks in Ottawa, Canada, late on Monday, with no agreement on a proposal for global reductions in the $712bn (£610bn) plastic production industry by 2040 to address twin issues of plastic waste and huge carbon emissions. |
Solomon Islands PM to stand down after poor election result
LONDON, UK, 29 April 2024 (Guardian) - The Solomon Islands prime minister, Manasseh Sogavare, has announced he will not stand as a candidate when lawmakers vote this week for a new leader, and his political party would instead back former foreign minister Jeremiah Manele. The two major opposition parties in Solomon Islands struck a coalition deal on Saturday as they vie with Sogavare’s party to form a government after an election delivered no clear winner. |
Solomon Islands bids farewell to a polarising PM
LONDON, UK, 30 April 2024 (Guardian) - As Manasseh Sogavare, the most outwardly China-friendly leader of a Pacific island country, conceded his time as prime minister of Solomon Islands was up, he didn’t appear to be quite ready to forgive and forget. Announcing his departure in a post-election press conference on Monday, Sogavare lamented that his government had come “under pressure from the United States and western allies” and had been “accused of many things”. |
The Maldives is racing to create new land
LONDON, UK, 25 April 2024 (Nature) - The Maldives is an 820-kilometre-long chain of nearly 1,200 islands dotting the Indian Ocean and one of the countries most vulnerable to sea-level rise. With 80% of its land less than one metre above sea level, some scientists predict that the islands could be completely submerged by 2100. In an effort to keep the country above water and thriving, the government is adopting a strategy used by many nations around the globe: land reclamation. |
Some of first Airlanders could fly Scottish routes
LONDON, UK, 30 April 2024 (BBC) - Six large electric aircraft could potentially be used to fly passengers and freight on Scottish regional air routes. Bedford-based Hybrid Air Vehicles (HAV) has been looking at how its Airlander 10 transport could operate from sites in Orkney, Shetland, Western Isles and the Highlands. |
A digital leap for Caribbean islands
PORT OF SPAIN, Trinidad, 30 April 2024 (UNDP) - Caribbean islands are on the brink of a digital transformation, stepping into the future as Small Island Digital States, or SIDS 2.0. |
Filipino farmers struggle as drought and heatwave hits
SAN ANTONIO, Philippines, 29 April 2024 (AFP) - Filipino farmer Daniel Velasco pumps water from a well in a desperate attempt to save his wilting vegetables, as a scorching heatwave and the worst drought in years hits crops. It has hardly rained on Velasco's plot of gourds and tomatoes since November, as the El Nino weather phenomenon brings drier conditions and baking temperatures. |
Countries consider pact to reduce plastic production
LONDON, UK, 29 April 2024 (Guardian) - Countries are for the first time considering restrictions on the global production of plastic - to reduce it by 40% in 15 years - in an attempt to protect human health and the environment. |
Megaprojects are carving up clouded leopard forests
SAN FRANCISCO, US, 29 April 2024 (Mongabay) - Massive infrastructure projects currently underway on the Southeast Asian islands of Borneo and Sumatra are set to severely erode forest connectivity across key habitats of the Sunda clouded leopard. Two major highway networks and the relocation of Indonesia’s capital city to Borneo will further fragment the domain of the arboreal predator that has already experienced steep population declines in recent decades due to the expansion of oil palm and poaching. |
HKDCS propose alternative to Macao's construction waste island
MACAO, 29 April 2024 (MN) - The Hong Kong Dolphin Conservation Society (HKDCS) is urging the Macao government to consider developing screening and processing facilities for construction waste, instead of using the waste to build an artiificial island, which the group says will threaten the city’s natural environment and dolphin population. |
Tourist fined for approaching walrus in Norway
LONDON, UK, 27 April 2024 (BBC) - A tourist visiting the Norwegian Arctic archipelago of Svalbard has been fined more than $1,100 for getting too close to a walrus. It's against the law to approach the wildlife on Svalbard in a way that disturbs them. |
Cuban family harnesses biogas and promotes its benefits
HAVANA, Cuba, 26 April 2024 (IPS) - Just to obtain a good fertilizer it was worth building a biodigester, says Cuban farmer Alexis García, who proudly shows the vegetables in his family’s garden, as well as the wide variety of fruit trees that have benefited from biol, the end product of biogas technology. |
World Penguin Day: UKOTs are home to millions of penguins
SANDY, UK, 25 April 2024 (RSPB) - From the impressive 1.2m tall Emperor Penguins of the British Antarctic Territory to the smaller, agile Southern Rockhopper Penguins of the Falkland Islands – nine out of 18 penguin species breed in the UK Overseas and British Antarctic Territories. |
Aldabra Atoll experiencing severe bleaching event
VICTORIA, Seychelles, 28 April 2024 (SNA) - Since the beginning of the year, the coral reefs at the Aldabra Atoll, one of the Seychelles' UNESCO World Heritage sites, are experiencing a severe bleaching event. |
Robinson Crusoe Island, a Chilean football fairytale
BONN, Germany, 27 April 2024 (DW) - The tiny Chilean island of Robinson Crusoe is in the country's domestic football cup tournament for the first time ever. Now, fans, patrons and players will embark on one of the most unique journeys in world football. This weekend they will host three-time cup winners Santiago Wanderers. |
Shetland spaceport moves closer to first rocket launch
LONDON, UK, 25 April 2024 (BBC) - SaxaVord Spaceport in Shetland is on track to launch the UK’s first vertical rocket into orbit. The Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) has granted a ‘range licence’ to the Scottish spaceport, which will allow the company to control the sea and airspace during launch. It will also ensure a clear and safe path for any rockets heading into space and ensures the safety of those on the ground. |
Barbados leader halts payout for Drax Hall plantation
BRIDGETOWN, Barbados, 24 April 2024 (Guardian) - The prime minister of Barbados, Mia Mottley, has halted plans for a £3m payout to the British Conservative MP Richard Drax for the purchase of 53 acres of the Drax Hall plantation, which he owns. |
Indigenous community fights to save its lands on Belitung Island
BELITUNG ISLAND, Indonesia, 25 April 2024 (Mongabay) - The Lanun Indigenous community of Indonesia’s Belitung Island have responded to increasing environmental damage by building their capacity in skills such as advocacy and mediation. At issue is the growth in illegal mining and forest clearing by the plantation industry on land that the Lanun consider to have long been theirs. |
Rats causing havoc on offshore islands
DUBLIN, Ireland, 25 April 2024 (IT) - David Tierney, an ornithologist working in the scientific advice and research directorate of the National Parks & Wildlife Service, recently co-authored a milestone publication, Seabirds Count: A Census of Breeding Seabirds in Britain and Ireland (2015-2021). Between the two countries there are more than 4,000 smaller islands that are home to internationally important colonies of sea birds. Rats and other non-native mammals are an issue, though Tierney says “in absolute terms we don’t know the scale of the problem”. |
Philippine court blocks GMO 'golden rice' production
MANILA, Philippines, 25 April 2024 (AFP) - A Philippine court has blocked the commercial propagation of genetically modified golden rice because it said conflicting scientific views gave rise to "severe" health and environmental safety concerns. The Philippines was the first country in the world to approve golden rice, which is enriched with the Vitamin A precursor beta-carotene and has a bright yellow colour, in a bid to combat childhood blindness. |
Galapagos animals live amid mounds of waste
GALAPAGOS ISLANDS, 23 April 2024 (Guardian) - Globally, about 20% of plastic pollution in the ocean comes from maritime sources, but in the Galápagos, although estimates vary greatly, that figure could be as high as 40%, according to research due to be published by the Galápagos marine reserve and the Galápagos Conservation Trust. |
Ireland's newest national park is its most diverse
DUBLIN, Ireland, 23 April 2024 (Independent) - The country’s newest national park will be a patchwork of places on land, coast and sea, physically separate from each other but linked by a common designation. A clearer picture of Kerry National Marine Park is now available. It takes in 70,000 acres and includes the offshore islands of Skellig Michael, Little Skellig, Puffin Island and Tearaght Island as well as the prehistoric Tetrapod Trackway on Valentia Island. At sea, it includes the Kerry Head Shoals, an area of important reefs, and the waters around the Blasket Islands. |
SIDS fostering effective energy transition to achieve a blue economy
ABU DHABI, 24 April 2024 (IPS) - SIDS are making efforts to promote the blue economy as they possess enormous potential for renewable energy relying on the sea. By 2030, the renewable energy generation output for the whole SIDS member states is anticipated to reach 9.9 GW from current 5 GW. |
Dominica High Court overturns ban on same-sex relations
LONDON, UK, 23 April 2024 (BBC) - Dominica's High Court has overturned a ban on consensual same-sex relations in the Caribbean island nation. The court ruled parts of the law that criminalised same-sex activity went against the country's constitution. LGBTQ activists welcomed the decision, hailing it as "a significant milestone in the ongoing struggle for LGBTQ rights in the Caribbean". |
Indonesia fails again to pass Indigenous bill
JAKARTA, Indonesia, 23 April 2024 (Mongabay) - Civil society advocates representing more than 2,000 customary communities in Indonesia have initiated last-ditch legal challenges over parliament’s failure to pass an Indigenous rights bill during the 10-year administration of President Joko Widodo. |
Report into Maui fires disaster expounds timeline
WELLINGTON, New Zealand, 23 April 2024 (RNZ) - A new report says "numerous acts of herosim and community cooperation were observed" during the devastating Maui wildfires which killed over 100 people. The first of three reports of an investigation into the wildfires that destroyed the town of Lahaina in Maui has been released, almost nine months on from the disaster. |
Landslide win for pro-China leader's party in Maldives vote
MALE, Maldives, 21 April 2024 (AFP) - Maldives President Mohamed Muizzu's party won control of parliament in a Sunday election landslide, results showed, with voters backing his tilt towards China and away from regional powerhouse and traditional benefactor India. |
The women looking after an island paradise
ST JOHN'S, Antigua, 21 April 2024 (BBC) - Kih'Nyiah is one of more than 60 girls and young women in Antigua who have been trained as coastal stewards, tasked with planting indigenous trees to slow coastal erosion, protecting the nesting sites of critically endangered turtles, and making and managing beach bins. |
Pioneering study on coral reef connectivity published
VICTORIA, Seychelles, 21 April 2024 (SNA) - Researchers from the Universty of Oxford in the UK and conservationists from Seychelles have published a pioneering study. For the first time, this study employs both genetics and oceanographic modelling to quantify the intricate network of coral connectivity in regional waters. |
Thousands protest against Canary islands 'unsustainable' tourism
MADRID, Spain, 20 April 2024 (Guardian) - Thousands of people will join protests across the Canary islands on Saturday to call for an urgent rethink of the Spanish archipelago’s tourism industry and a freeze on tourist numbers, arguing that the current, decades-old model has made life unaffordable and environmentally unsustainable for local people. |
Icelandic glacier in presidential bid
LONDON, UK, 19 April 2024 (Guardian) - Standing in the shadow of Iceland’s Snæfellsjokull, – a 700,000-year-old glacier perched on a volcano and visible to half the country’s population on any given day – in 2010, Angela Rawlings was struck by an unconventional thought. “It suddenly just came to me. What if the glacier was president?” More than a decade later, Rawlings’ musing has snowballed into what is perhaps the continent’s most singular presidential bid, as a team of more than 50 people scrambles to secure Snæfellsjökull a spot on the ballot in the country’s upcoming election on 1 June. |
Scientists' experiment is 'beacon of hope' for coral reefs
LONDON, UK, 20 April 2024 (Guardian) - An underwater experiment to restore coral reefs in the Maldives using a combination of “coral IVF” and recordings of fish noises could offer a “beacon of hope” to scientists who fear the fragile ecosystem is on the brink of collapse. |
The ingenious wines birthed from black volcanic craters
LONDON, UK, 18 April 2024 (BBC) - When viewed from a distance, the vineyards of Spain's Lanzarote island show few signs of life. The sweeping jet-black terrain is pitted with a series of conical hollows, like the thumbprints of a mythical giant pressed into the dark earth. But get a little closer, and each crater reveals a vine at its heart. |
OCC raises $11.3b in pledges for marine conservation
ATHENS, Greece, 19 April 2024 (Mongabay) - The 9th Our Ocean Conference (OOC) took place in Athens from April 15-17. Government, NGO and philanthropic delegates made 469 new commitments worth more than $11.3 billion to help protect the oceans, which was lower than in previous years. The commitments included pledges to establish marine protected areas (MPAs); combat illegal, unreported and unregulated (IUU) fishing; protect marine biodiversity; and fight climate change. |
Study challenges the traditional use of charismatic umbrella species
JAKARTA, Indonesia, 20 April 2024 (Mongabay) - A new study from Indonesia’s Leuser forests challenges the traditional use of charismatic “umbrella species” like tigers and rhinos to represent ecosystem biodiversity. Researchers found that focusing on these well-known species neglects other important wildlife and may not accurately represent overall biodiversity. |
Carbon capture on islands
SANTA CRUZ, US, 18 April 2024 (IC) - It’s easy to think of islands as small, but their impact is anything but. The lush, biodiverse ecosystems they support can capture millions of metric tons of carbon per year in the form of plants, animals, and soils. Mangroves and wetlands act as natural carbon sinks and also help prevent erosion. Seagrass meadows, like those found in Palau, also possess extraordinary capacity to capture carbon. |
Cold-ironing buoy project begins development at Orkney Islands
MANCHESTER, UK, 18 April 2024 (ST) - French energy management company Schneider Electric has joined a UK Government-backed project, based at the Bay of Kirkwall in the Orkney Islands, developing the first cold-ironing buoy designed to power cruise ships at anchorage. |
Indonesian capital project finally gets biodiversity master plan
JAKARTA, Indonesia, 19 April 2024 (Mongabay) - Beset by criticism over its environmental and social impacts, the controversial project of building Indonesia’s new capital city in the Bornean jungle has finally come out with guidelines for biodiversity management. |
In Philippines restive south, conflict is linked to reduced biodiversity
MANILA, Philippines, 19 April 2024 (Mongabay) - Mindanao, the Philippines second largest island group, has a troubled history of conflict dating back to the Spanish colonial era in the 16th century. A recent study found that higher levels of both state and non-state conflict correlated with reduced biodiversity and forest cover. |
Snorkelling artists showcase Scotland's diverse marine life
GLASGOW, UK, 18 April 2024 (Conversation) - In collaboration with community group Argyll Coast and Islands Hope Spot, nine artists were invited to take part in a snorkelling artists’ residency that began underwater. This exhibition showcases their diverse range of multimedia artworks, from illustration and printmaking to audio recordings of underwater seascapes and animation. |
Panama delays promised relocation of sinking island community
LONDON, UK, 17 April 2024 (Mongabay) - The government of Panama continues to delay the process of relocating almost 1,300 Indigenous Guna inhabitants from an island experiencing rising sea levels due to climate change. The lack of space on the tiny Caribbean island of Gardi Sugdub means there’s no room to relocate, and a new site on the mainland for the community has been in the works since 2019. |
Greek island of Gavdos is not ready for its migrant arrivals
GAVDOS, Greece, 17 April 2024 (CSM) - The tiny Greek island of Gavdos finds itself thrust to the forefront of Europe’s migration crisis, which erupted in 2015 when more than 1 million asylum-seekers reached the Continent. Since the beginning of the year, around 1,200 migrants have arrived on Gavdos by boat, with most of them setting out from Tobruk on the coast of Libya. In the same period last year, there were no arrivals at all. |
Canada's 11th national park reserve to be establised at Pituamkek
CHARLOTTETOWN, Canada, 17 April 2024 (CBC) - The chief of Lennox Island First Nation is thrilled that this week's federal budget confirms money will be coming to turn a string of islands off Prince Edward Island's North Shore into Canada's next national park reserve. |
Better incentives needed to expand solar energy in Cuba
HAVANA, Cuba, 17 April 2024 (IPS) - With a bolder policy and flexible payment mechanisms, perhaps Alexis Rodríguez would have opted for solar panels for his home, instead of the portable generator that has made it possible for him to weather the frequent blackouts caused by Cuba’s recurrent energy crises. |
Indonesia evacuating thousands after volcano erupts
MANADO, Indonesia, 18 April 2024 (AFP) - Indonesian rescuers raced to evacuate thousands of people after a volcano erupted five times, forcing authorities to close a nearby airport and issue a warning about falling debris that could cause a tsunami. |
Chinatown fearful ahead of Solomon Islands crunch vote
HONIARA, Solomon Islands, 16 April 2024 (AFP) - Merchants in Solomon Islands' gritty Chinatown were preparing Tuesday for the prospect of post-election violence, fearful the district will again be targeted if the Pacific nation re-elects a pro-Beijing leader. Mobs tore through the shopping district during riots in 2019 and 2021, their anger fuelled in part by China's growing sway over the government. |
EU takes legal action over sand eel fishing ban in British waters
BRUSSELS, Belgium, 17 April 2024 (Telegraph) - The European Union has launched legal action against the UK over a ban on catching sand eels in British waters in a fresh post-Brexit fishing dispute. In January, Britain announced a ban on catching sand eels on Dogger Bank in the North Sea to protect the area’s populations of puffins and kittiwakes, which eat the fish. The move caused outrage among Danish and Swedish fishermen, whose governments lobbied Eurocrats to take action against Britain. |
Research team shows island bats are valuable allies for farmers
OXFORD, UK, 16 April 2024 (Phys.org) - A new study has highlighted how the three bat species that live on Madeira can be valuable allies for farmers, by feeding on important agricultural pests. The findings demonstrate that encouraging bat species can be a win-win for both conservation efforts and local farmers. |
Turning excess seaweed into an agroecology solution
NEW YORK, US, 16 April 2024 (Mongabay) - Sargassum, a type of brown macroalgae, has been inundating beaches across the Caribbean since 2011. It comes from the Sargasso Sea in the Atlantic Ocean. The seaweed has harmed Caribbean economies and human health, making it a national emergency in some island-nations. Over the past decade, entrepreneurs and scientists have found ways to turn sargassum into nutrient-rich biofertilizers, biostimulants and other organic products to boost agricultural yields while cutting back on chemicals. |
Hyundai ends aluminum deal with Adaro Minerals
JAKARTA, Indonesia, 17 April 2024 (Mongabay) - South Korean automobile giant Hyundai has ended an agreement with Adaro Minerals, a subsidiary of Indonesia’s second-largest coal miner, PT Adaro Energy, to procure aluminum for its electric vehicle (EV) production. The decision came on the heels of campaigns by K-pop fans who urged Hyundai to back out of the agreement and to avoid sourcing aluminum from Adaro since it will be produced using coal power. |
Sumatra villages count cost of deadly river tsunami
SOUTH PESISIR, Indonesia, 17 April 2024 (Mongabay) - Several days of extreme rainfall beginning March 7 triggered fatal flash flooding across Indonesia’s West Sumatra province, resulting in at least 30 deaths and devastating villages on the fringe of Kerinci Seblat National Park. Deforestation upstream of the affected areas has exacerbated the risk of landslides and flash floods, according to officials. |
Something is killing Saint Helena's cloud forest
VICTORIA, Canada, 17 April 2024 (Hakai) - A deadly water mold - a relative of the pathogen that causes potato blight - is devastating what’s left of the South Atlantic island’s endemic black cabbage trees. |
Crown land on Haida Gwaii will be returned to Indigenous people
TORONTO, Canada, 15 April 2024 (Guardian) - For centuries, the Haida people have known that the impenetrable forests and bountiful waters of Xhaaidlagha Gwaayaai – “the islands at the boundary of the world” – were both a life-giving force and their rightful home. Now, after decades of negotiation, the province of British Columbia has come to the same conclusion: the title over more than 200 islands off Canada’s west coast should rightfully be held by the Haida Nation. |
One of the world's most mysterious felines
SAN FRANCISCO, US, 15 April 2024 (Mongabay) - The bay cat, named for its brownish-red coat, is arguably the most elusive of all the world’s wildcats. And among the most endangered. The bay cat is the only feline endemic to Borneo. Researchers - some of whom have never seen the cat in the wild - say it is potentially threatened by habitat loss and killings by locals, with accidental snaring another possible major cause of loss. |
Gaea Seychelles assesses healthiness of 15 rivers
VICTORIA, Seychelles, 16 April 2024 (SNA) - Developing a freshwater biodiversity information system for long-term conservation and management in Seychelles is a first-of-its-kind project currently being implemented by a not-for-profit organisation Gaea Seychelles on the islands of Mahe, Praslin and Silhouette. The three-year project also aims to assess the healthiness of freshwater sources and monitor alterations and changes of the islands' rivers. |
CNMI becomes 6th SIDS to join Blue Planet Alliance
SAIPAN, CNMI, 16 April 2024 (RNZ) - The Commonwealth of Northern Marianas Islands (CNMI) has signed a Blue Planet Climate Agreement, a document declaring its intention to commit itself on the path to a 100 percent renewable-energy future. It makes the CNMI the sixth SIDS country or territory to sign such a document, officially joining the nonprofit alliance in a growing movement to demonstrate to the rest of the world that a carbon-free-fuel future is indeed possible. |
China's influence on the Solomon Islands draws scrutiny
HONIARA, Solomon Islands, 15 April 2024 (Guardian) - China’s influence in the Pacific is being scrutinised as ally Solomon Islands prepares to hold elections this month, with two candidates indicating they would seek to review a controversial security pact between the two countries. |
Protesters in Canary Islands on hunger strike over mass tourism
MADRID, Spain, 12 April 2024 (BBC) - Activists have begun a hunger strike on the island of Tenerife, in protest at what they see as the destructive growth of tourism on the Canary Islands. Protesters are calling for a halt to the construction of a hotel and a beach resort in the south of the island. They also want a moratorium on all tourism development projects. |
Cocos (Keeling) Islands 40 years of struggle to be heard
GERALDTON, Australia, 15 April 2024 (ABC) - Ramnie Mokta remembers receiving a handful of plastic tokens, as "payment" for many hours of hard labour spent collecting coconuts under a hot tropical sun. He could only redeem the invented island currency at the family estate store of his boss, John Clunies-Ross - widely described as the unofficial monarch of the Cocos (Keeling) Islands. |
Solomon Islands tribes sell carbon credits, not their trees
MELBOURNE, Australia, 15 April 2024 (E360) - In a South Pacific nation ravaged by logging, several tribes joined together to sell “high integrity” carbon credits on international markets. The project not only preserves their highly biodiverse rainforest, but it funnels life-changing income to Indigenous landowners. |
Pioneering digital initiative empowers Pacific islands
SYDNEY, Australia, 15 April 2024 (IPS) - Decision-makers at all levels across the Pacific region are grappling with a lack of reliable, detailed information about the connections between climate extremes and changes occurring on their islands. In a bid to bridge the deficit of data, the regional scientific and principal organisation, the Pacific Community (SPC), is spearheading a new project, called Digital Earth Pacific, to capture extensive satellite information about climate change and natural disasters in the region. |
Conservationists welcome new PNG Protected Areas Act - but questions remain
SAN FRANCISCO, US, 12 April 2024 (Mongabay) - In February 2024, Papua New Guinea’s parliament passed the Protected Areas Bill, first introduced two decades ago, into an act, which aims to establish a national system of protected areas to achieve the conservation target of protecting 30% of PNG’s territory by 2030. While conservationists say the act is a good step toward protecting biodiversity, they raise concerns about its implementation and whether the promised benefits of protected areas will reach landowning communities. |
Faced with an extreme future, Providencia struggles to rebuild
PROVIDENCIA, Colombia, 15 April 2024 (Mongabay) - In 2020, Hurricane Iota destroyed most of the housing and infrastructure on the Island of Providencia, in Colombia’s Caribbean archipelago of San Andres. Although the government sent aid and rebuilt homes, communities complained they were left out of the consultation process and that the reconstruction had been poorly done, without addressing the island’s increased vulnerability to climate change. |
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