Vanuatu communities unite against invasive species
| | TANNA ISLAND, Vanuatu, 17 April 2026 (SPREP) - Invasive species like weeds and predators, like rats, ferral pigs and cats, are not just nuisances, they threaten food gardens, water sources and the delicate ecosystems that sustain island life. For families in rural Vanuatu, the unchecked growth of invasive weeds can mean reduced harvests, compromised biodiversity and weakened resilience in the face of climate and environmental pressures. |
EU deforestation law nudges timber trade
| | JAKARTA, Indonesia, 17 April 2026 (Mongabay) - Several European timber firms have cut ties with suppliers linked to deforestation in Indonesia following a 2025 investigation, suggesting that an upcoming European Union regulation is already influencing behavior ahead of its implementation at the end of 2026. |
This is the friendliest small town in Alaska
| | QUEBEC, Canada, 17 April 2026 (WA) - Kodiak's population is around 5,800 residents, and many are connected to the fishing industry or Coast Guard. The community also includes people whose ancestors have lived on Kodiak Island for thousands of years. The town's welcoming atmosphere is shaped in part by the presence of the U.S. Coast Guard Base, one of the largest Coast Guard bases in the United States. Service members and their families move from all over the world to settle here, so the local community is used to new faces. |
More than 15m oysters to be released in the North Sea
| | LONDON, UK, 17 April 2026 (Guardian) - More than 15m juvenile oysters are to be released into the North Sea in one of the biggest rewilding projects in UK waters. The scheme, which will use a unique rearing process, hopes to re-establish a huge oyster bed around Orkney that experts say will create a “trophic cascade” of climate and ecological benefits. |
In Tasmania, the mines have closed but the rivers remember
| | STRAHAN, Tasmania, 16 April 2026 (Mongabay) - Legacy copper mining in Tasmania, carried out for more than 100 years, has left parts of the King River ecosystem severely degraded, with scientists describing sections as “biologically dead” due to acid mine drainage and metal contamination. |
Puerto Rico's rainforest center reborn: in pictures
| | LONDON, UK, 16 April 2026 (Guardian) - Nearly a decade ago, Hurricanes Maria and Irma tore through Puerto Rico’s El Yunque national forest, stripping its mountainsides bare and destroying virtually every structure in their paths. In the wake of those disasters, Marvel Architects reimagined El Portal, the forest’s $18m visitor’s center, with resilience front of mind. The new structure is elevated about 10 meters off the forest floor to protect against flooding and can transform into an ‘incident command post’ during natural disasters and emergencies. |
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NAF |
 | | North Atlantic Forum bi-annual international conference 17-21 June, 2024, Connemara, Ireland, |
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IWRA |
| | 1st Islands Water Congress 4-6 Sept, 2024, Torshavn, Faroe Islands |
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ANATOMY OF ISLANDS |
| | 12th Anatomy of Islands symposium 26-28 Sept, 2024, Jelsa, Hvar Island, Croatia |
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CIS |
| | Critical Island Studies 4th international conference 3-4 Oct, 2024, Manila, Philippines |
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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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SICRI |
| | Island Studies International Conference 25-28 June, 2026, Tacloban City, Leyte Islands, Philippines |
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ISISA |
| | 20th Islands of the World Conference 7-11 July 2026, Shinan County, Jeollanam-do, 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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