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Rare penguins are declining on one island but thriving on another
RENO, US, 23 October 2026 (Earth.com) - Scientists are investigating why erect-crested penguins remain stable on the Bounty Islands while populations on the nearby Antipodes Islands continue to decline.

Moth survey captures 1,179 species across South Korean islands
LONDON, UK, 23 October 2026 (Bioengineer) - An eighteen-year survey of moth communities across thirty islands in southern South Korea has documented 1,179 species, representing 41.4 percent of all moth species known from Korea within the nineteen families investigated. The dataset, compiled from surveys conducted between 2007 and 2025, spans 332 sampling sites and covers twenty-eight islands within Dadohaehaesang and Hallyeohaesang National Parks as well as two islands outside these protected areas, including Gageodo, the southwesternmost island of the country. 

IUCN launches global strategy to tackle invasive alien species
YEREVAN, Armenia, 23 October 2026 (IUCN) – IUCN has launched its first global strategy to tackle invasive alien species, one of the world’s greatest drivers of biodiversity loss and species extinctions. It sets out how IUCN’s Members, Commissions and Secretariat will join forces to scale up action on biological invasions, while supporting other governments, civil society organisations, Indigenous Peoples, the private sector and researchers to work with IUCN to implement the strategy worldwide.

Thousands of penguins found dead on Antarctic island
RENO, US, 22 October 2026 (Earth.com) - Researchers discovered thousands of dead Adelie penguins on Heroína Island in Antarctica. While they expected bird flu as the cause, further testing proved that was not what killed them but rather avian cholera, a bacterial disease.

Caribbean islands were once the center of diversity for barn owls
GAINESVILLE, US, 22 October 2026 (UF) - Barn owls dispersed to North America from Eurasia between the Pliocene and early Pleistocene epochs, less than 5 million years ago, likely by crossing the Atlantic Ocean. A new study conducted by scientists at the Florida Museum of Natural History shows that barn owls initially arrived and diversified in the Caribbean, where paleontologists have found fossils of several giant species in this group that are now extinct. From the Caribbean, barn owls dispersed to the Galápagos Islands. Afterward, Caribbean barn owls made their way onto the North and South American continents.

HPMA devastation – the battle continues
STORNOWAY, UK, 22 October 2026 (SG) - The latest proposals for Highly Protected Marine Areas.around the waters of the Western Isles would result in significant job losses in the fishing industry and will be “devastating for communities”. 

CBD
COP16 21 Oct-1 Nov, 2024, Cali, Colombia

UNFCCC
COP29 11-22 November, 2024, Baku, Azerbaijan

ISLAND DYNAMICS
DARKNESS II conference, 20-23 January 2025, Nuuk, Greenland

JICAS
Islands And Island Studies conference 3-7 June, 2025, Jersey, Channel Islands

UNITED NATIONS
UN Ocean Conference 9-13 June, 2025, Nice, France

UPEI
3rd international conference on SIS and SNIJs 16-20 June, 2025, Charlottetown, PEI

ARCTIC COUNCIL
UArctic Congress 26-29 May 2026, Torshavn, Faroe Islands

SICRI
Island Studies International Conference 25-28 June, 2026, Tacloban City, Leyte Islands, Philippines

WORLD ISLANDS FAIR
The world’s first international event themed around islands 5 Sept-4 Nov, 2026, Yeosu, South Korea

SPREP
11th Pacific Islands Conference for Nature Conservation and Protected Areas, 7–11 September 2026, Noumea, New Caledonia  

ANATOMY OF ISLANDS
14th Anatomy of Islands symposium 15-17 Oct, 2026, Jelsa, Hvar Island, Croatia

OTIE
18th International Conference on Island Tourism  28-31 October, 2026, Trapani, Sicily, Italy 

SOCIETY OF ISLAND BIOLOGY
5th Island Biology conference 2-6 November, 2026, Atami City, Japan

IWRA
2nd Islands Water Congress 27-29 Jan, 2027, Montego Bay, Jamaica

ISISA
21st Islands of the Word Conference 6-10 June, 2027, Willemstad, Curacao