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”. |
Deadly gold rush continues as latest landslide kills four in Sumatra
| | PADANG, Indonesia, 22 October 2026 (Mongabay) - A recent mining landslip in South Solok district on the Indonesian island of Sumatra buried four miners, after nine were killed in a similar incident in the same province in May. Globally, more than 20 million people work in the so-called artisanal and small-scale mining sector, many exposed to environmental disasters and dangerous levels of mercury, a potent neurotoxin used to separate gold from ore that causes permanent neurological and physical harms. |
Greenland moves to suspend seabed mining until 2029
| | NUUK, Greenland, 22 October 2026 (Mongabay) - Greenland’s parliament has asked the government to pause licensing on seabed mining amid concerns about foreign interests in mining and potential environmental consequences for marine life. |
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CBD |
 | | COP16 21 Oct-1 Nov, 2024, Cali, Colombia |
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UNFCCC |
| | COP29 11-22 November, 2024, Baku, Azerbaijan |
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ISLAND DYNAMICS |
| | DARKNESS II conference, 20-23 January 2025, Nuuk, Greenland |
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JICAS |
| | Islands And Island Studies conference 3-7 June, 2025, Jersey, Channel Islands |
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UNITED NATIONS |
| | UN Ocean Conference 9-13 June, 2025, Nice, France |
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UPEI |
| | 3rd international conference on SIS and SNIJs 16-20 June, 2025, Charlottetown, PEI |
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ARCTIC COUNCIL |
| | UArctic Congress 26-29 May 2026, Torshavn, Faroe Islands |
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SICRI |
| | Island Studies International Conference 25-28 June, 2026, Tacloban City, Leyte Islands, Philippines |
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WORLD ISLANDS FAIR |
| | The world’s first international event themed around islands 5 Sept-4 Nov, 2026, Yeosu, South Korea |
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SPREP |
| | 11th Pacific Islands Conference for Nature Conservation and Protected Areas, 7–11 September 2026, Noumea, New Caledonia |
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ANATOMY OF ISLANDS |
| | 14th Anatomy of Islands symposium 15-17 Oct, 2026, Jelsa, Hvar Island, Croatia |
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SOCIETY OF ISLAND BIOLOGY |
| | 5th Island Biology conference 2-6 November, 2026, Atami City, Japan |
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IWRA |
| | 2nd Islands Water Congress 27-29 Jan, 2027, Montego Bay, Jamaica |
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ISISA |
| | 21st Islands of the Word Conference 6-10 June, 2027, Willemstad, Curacao |
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